Serious Witch's Travel Book

The final result... Mostly speaking, it is a reunion, but the characters in each area may have an independent life, and it is not that if both of them have slept with the protagonist, they will follow her to the ends of the world, like this.

Part of the chapters eaten by sages will be supplemented in the group, and there is no guarantee that they will be fully supplemented.

------

Well, I really thought about the idea of ​​just slipping away or re-opening with a different skin before if the results were not good. After all, we are still very sad about the GG loss of "The Empress".

However, we still feel that each book is just one chance, and it would be wrong to rewrite or give up. We also really want to finish this story. After all, there are more than 200 million words of the prequel of "The Empress"... so let's grind it slowly go down.

As for someone asking us if we want to write fanfiction or easier and better themes... After thinking about it for a long time, we are not very good at writing cheerful gag content. Relatively speaking, we still prefer simpler stories - Characters do what they are supposed to do, rather than jumpy modern ideas or something - maybe try it later, but let's wait until the end of a book or two.

Thanks to every reader for their support.

conch.

Chapter 81 title page all the way east

After a long rainy day, the sky turned slightly warmer.

Or, it's not that the weather is getting warmer, but that the temperature in the valley is naturally more pleasant.

——This is the Golden Gate, which is the only way to enter the territory of the Vosges Valley Empire from the road.

The tall arched stone pillars and two sections of low city walls that are more decorative than practical are located on both sides of the road. This is the cultural heritage left by the Celtic civilization when it ruled Gaul. The elves lived in woodland valleys. They seldom attack each other, and the arches and a few walls on the avenue are their relatively rare ways of "marking the territory". When ordinary elves see the arches on the avenue, they will know that they belong to the owner's area.

Before Caesar's conquest, every valley and woodland in Gaul was dotted with so-called "settlements" and "royal courts." No longer continuing, a few epochs ago, the "king" of the elves gradually weakened and disappeared as they were rejected by the empire, and replaced by a new settlement system centered on the highly respected Archdruid.

From the perspective of Celtic tradition, the front should be regarded as the land blessed by the "Guardian of the Vosges Valley". If you pass this arch and go further east, you will be "the land ruled by the count family of Idore border in the Vosges Valley".

The young girl stood in front of the arch that was five or six times as tall as hers, and exclaimed from the bottom of her heart.

Although somewhat in disrepair, the overall structure of the arch has not been damaged. The edges of the two stone pillars and the vault are covered with a thick layer of brass, and many sharp points of different sizes have been added to the top. The corners and lines of the arch, against the warm golden sunlight of this sunny day, seem to be the sun rising from the arch.

Unfortunately, also because of the age, most of the brass has already changed color. Of course, the mottled green did not damage this historic site, but added a bit of historical vicissitudes to it.

The coachman didn't want to disturb the girl.

He instinctively felt that it would be an offense for a hauler like himself to disturb her: just by looking at her back, the girl was already very outstanding.Her soft black hair undulates gently with the warm valley wind, they are as eye-catching as the tea-colored smoke diffused in the wind, not to mention the brown dress and shawl on the girl, it is definitely not from his car The clothes that can be sewn from burlap are exquisitely reminiscent of the legendary silk, which is a luxurious fabric that can only be produced in the rich East.

Compared with that graceful girl, he was a bit too vulgar, but he really couldn't help but want to go up and ask, because putting such a young, beautiful and noble girl on this avenue really made him feel uneasy .

Could this be the lost young lady?

"Wow—!"

After deceiving himself with the idea of ​​"there may be a thank you money", the coachman finally stopped in front of the gate of Jinhui Gate.

He tried to make himself, uh, smile a little, not to look obscene, and to speak decently...

So he tried his best to hold back an elegant sentence that he may have never said in his life, and he may never say it again in the future: "This noble lady, why are you staying here alone?"

The girl looked away from the arch, and looked at the wooden cart parked beside her.

As expected, her appearance did not disappoint, she was as exquisite as a confidante that could only be fabricated in a bard's story—so much so that even her faint smile would make people feel like eating honey Sugar is generally sweet.

"Hello, if you go further, is the Vosges Valley?"

——The girl asked.

Chapter 82 001. Continuation of the past

When the carriage stopped at the gate of "Wheat Valley and Reindeer" with the bell, it happened to be the sun.

At this moment, the carpenters were still busy in the woods, and the hunter and the farmer would not visit the tavern. The shop was empty, only two passing travelers were eating and talking in low voices about what secrets they did not know.

The owner of the tavern sat alone behind the bar and yawned. He was thinking about whether he should give up his business hours in the afternoon and get a good sleep. The weather has been very cold recently, and even in the valley, the temperature has dropped significantly. If he is not careful, he will catch a cold , although he is not like that, but it still makes the cold wind at night not very comfortable.

So when a new guest came in, he was still lazily leaning against the counter in a daze, and had no intention of entertaining him carefully.

"Welcome... yawn..."

He just greeted him habitually, and then began to yawn—Valley of Vosges is a quiet and peaceful place. For so many years, the strangers they have dealt with are mainly guys from the eastern Black Forest. Sawdust Village is in the west of the valley. Usually, there are very few strangers who are worth deliberately entertaining, and nine out of ten people who come to drink are acquaintances in the village.

So who is it?Is it Asterix?Or Gene?Or maybe the kids from the old Jacob family came to beg for wine again?

He didn't even want to raise his eyes to entertain them.

But at this moment, a tense but dignified tone caught his attention.

"Have a rest here, miss."

It sounded like a healthy middle-aged man's voice...but miss?

The boss looked up at the door, but was somewhat dazzled by the light that suddenly caught his eyes.

When the weather is warmer and closed, the door of the tavern is always open. The proprietor has hung a thick curtain over the door to keep out the wind, but at this moment it has been lifted and deliberately drawn to make it passable. angle.At the first moment, he only saw the person who was talking. Since he was facing the sun right now, the boss couldn't see him clearly, so he could only roughly recognize him as a middle-aged man who was not burly, and then he saw the second person. A small figure came slowly in--a girl indeed.

"Miss" - where did this nobleman come from?

The boss hesitated for a moment, rubbing his eyes that were blurred due to sleepiness.

Sawdust Village is just a small village. It is one of many small villages located on the outskirts of the Hornwood Forest. The people here basically come from Bruyères in the northeast. A few generations ago, some were forced to leave under the pressure of survival. The residents of the town with a large population spread along the forest area to the surrounding area, and the sawdust village is one of them. It can provide high-quality timber and venison for the valley, and the villagers also make a living from it.

However, there is also a saying that it is the other way around—people from some surrounding villages lived together to have Bruyères... But whatever, there are no historians to record these anyway, and this is not something ordinary people would care about.

The important thing is that there is no one who can be called a "Miss" in this small village.

There are no rich people in the village, and there is no clear person to talk to, but whatever happens, it is discussed and handled by dozens of families.

A girl from another family is a girl from another family, and she can't bear such an expensive title as "Miss". Sometimes it's just a joke, and everyone knows that this is not a title that should appear in a small village.

Could it be that some important person came?

The tavern owner's eyes widened eagerly. He gradually got used to the sunlight, and finally saw the appearance of that "Miss".

A young and beautiful girl with striking black hair and just the right face.Her appearance and figure are by no means the "hot and bold" dancer level described by the porters who came back from the city, but they are naturally friendly, and her fabric is high-quality but whether it is dyed or not. The colorful "rustic" clothes make it easy for people to place her in the position of "kind beauty next door".

But the boss is sure that he has never seen this girl before.

The girl stopped after entering the door, looking very introverted.Although the middle-aged man who brought her had signaled her to find a seat, the girl still didn't move too far from the door, but just stood there blankly, looking up and down, left and right, left and right. indoor environment.

The boss who came back to his senses was also looking at her.

He has been selling wine and lodging here for more than 20 years, and he has indeed seen many travelers here, so he still has some ability to know people.

The girl's shyness is not fake, she droops around her waist, and tightly pinching her dress shows a lot of things: she is really nervous, and these old-fashioned layouts in the store seem to attract her very much. She stared blankly at the stag antlers hanging on the wall. After a while, she opened her mouth and asked, "Is this...'tavern'?"

Her words drew everyone's attention to her—even though there were only three people in the room.

"Of course."

It obviously sounded a little weird, even offensive, but the middle-aged man who raised the curtain naturally took it; but as the boss saw the girl more and more clearly, he suddenly I don't think this is so weird.

The girl was not hostile, and her sincere eyes showed that she really wanted to ask this question from the bottom of her heart.

And when their eyes met, the boss saw the gentle and shy smile that was specially prepared for him, he immediately became [-]% sober: "...Come in and sit down, son, sit down and rest your feet!"

It's just too special.

She even made the tavernkeeper feel that it was completely normal for a girl like her to have such problems: she really didn't know what life was like for these commoners.

Needless to say, before there were any further orders, a glass of well water was placed in front of the girl.

"Thank you." She took the wooden cup with both hands and moved it closer to her, while the man who brought her to this tavern whispered at this time: "Bread, pickles and meat— —something decent."

The boss nodded silently, and went into the room in a hurry.

After all, this is not a big deal. After the boss brought out the two prepared meals, the strangeness caused by the girl gradually became flat.

The boss's drowsiness was gone. He leaned against the counter and wiped the cup. While wiping, he sneaked a glance at the girl who was very different from the villagers.

She didn't fit in with the whole tavern, no, the whole village.

Even the food is very delicate - the bread that has barely fermented for four or five cents has to be tasted carefully with both hands, and the grilled salt pork only bites off a small part each time, and avoids the fat and fat Meat—even pickles she will chew slowly for a while, but how to put it—watching her eat is different from watching the carefree girls in the village, she sits carefully outside the bar, and because of the bread The slightly frowning appearance of Fuzi in the middle is simply worthy of being painted into a picture and preserved.

This is definitely not a girl from an ordinary family, even though the middle-aged man beside her is eating next to her.The boss wanted to take the initiative to talk to him, but the latter seemed to avoid the topic intentionally, never looked at him, and just kept his head down as he dealt with the food.

...Forget it, let's just treat it as the son of some important person who came down for a private visit, and it's not his business.

Perhaps with the same thought, the two travelers dining in the corner of the room no longer stared at the girl curiously, but continued to chat about themselves:

"I have to remind you that although it's a good idea to go to the seaside, it's best not to take the Germanic road. The road going north in this province cannot be taken."

"Huh? But that's the closest road, what happened?"

"Of course it's the orcs. A month ago, the orcs suddenly crossed the border line agreed with the empire and launched an attack on Upper Germania. They skipped several rural areas in the north and directly surrounded an imperial army camp..."

"Ah? Wait—what the hell is going on? Didn't the empire and these barbarians have reached a settlement?"

"The head of the region released news that the elves broke the peace talks between the empire and the Frankish tribes, and cast all the blame on the Gaul natives; but no one knows the details. It is said that the first batch of news was drawn up by the special envoy of the governor. The real truth may still be studied—of course, if there is any special secret, I believe it will not be told to ordinary people like us, we just need to know that the northern part of Upper Germany is under military martial law."

"Martial law? Beat the orcs? It's time to do it."

The traveler complained: "Now more and more orcs are running into the territory of the empire, and the governor doesn't want to control them.

The other person responded with a wry smile: "No, on the contrary, they are catching elves. Didn't you read the arrest warrant in the city? It is said that the elves hijacked some important figure from the empire, so now they are hunting for suspicious people everywhere." The Celts... don't know how the Vosges Valley will respond, I heard that the Gaul court has sent a lot of inspectors in the name of the chief executive, and it's quite serious..."

"Court inspector? Isn't that the imperial envoy?"

"Yes."

"Really, what the hell is going on here? The orcs are attacking the empire, but the imperial bureaucrats are going to catch the elves? Isn't what we should do to punch those gray-skinned monsters back in the face?"

The young traveler became more and more excited as he talked, and couldn't help but clenched his fists and knocked on the table twice.The tavern owner behind the bar coughed, and he stopped angrily and muttered an apology.

"I can't beat them." The well-informed traveler sneered at this: "I guess the senators are going to cede the land again. Anyway, it's not their own land, so it doesn't hurt to cut it. Cut it back and forth, and Paris will be cut off sooner or later." gone."

"I heard that the governor of Beljika strongly opposed making concessions to the orcs. Didn't he convince the elders?"

"There is such a thing, she is still a female governor. But she has not been able to convince the senators, and she has been miserable recently. The imperial authorities said that she was attacked by extreme independenceists on the way back to the capital, and she has not been attacked until now. Live or die."

"Is it... 'Red Hood'?"

"Correct."

"I've heard people say that the Red Hood used to be Belgica's army...I'm not sure..."

"That's right, but it's not the first time we've seen an army mutiny. Besides, those red hoods are mostly elves, and they're hostile to us. By the way, the kidnapping I just mentioned can't be removed from the red hoods." Relationship, apart from searching for suspicious-looking elves, the entire organization of 'Red Hood' is wanted, and now one can be exchanged for a Big Ore (Note 1), regardless of life or death, even if it is just reporting the whereabouts, there is money take."

"Huh?...Being obedient to foreign enemies, but calling the elves who want to protect the country what kind of extreme independenceists?...The Holy One, the empire is getting bigger and bigger!"

The young man raised his fist excitedly, but he glanced at the counter, and then gave up the follow-up action under the boss's stare.

He took a sip of egg soup from the ceramic bowl to the traveler sitting there, and hissed comfortably.

The two of them were silent for a while, but no one noticed that the girl who was eating at the bar moved much slower - of course, even if they found out, they would just think that this lady of the family was too reserved.

After calming down for a while, the agitated young traveler whispered, "There are many elves in the Vosges Valley."

"Yeah, it's really worrying... But don't get me wrong, I'm not worried about the elves. The atmosphere here is very good. The elves are all masters of art. The handicrafts are selling well, and the singing is beautiful. I like it so much. Wait for me After finishing these batches, I will buy a house locally... But what I am worried about is that those people from the central government may make trouble. After all, in their eyes, the elves in the cedar forest and the elves in the Vosges Valley are probably no different... ..."

As they were talking, there was some commotion outside the tavern door.

A few horses stopped not far from the door, and they didn't sound like pack horses pulling carts, but the chaos caused by fast trotting horses being stopped.

The people in the tavern didn't pay attention at first, but soon they heard the sound of being trampled on the stone road at the entrance of the tavern, so the tavern owner, two travelers who were about to finish their meal, the coachman, and that special girl , At this time, part of their eyes turned to the door.

The door curtain was pushed open, and several agile armored men filed in.

Ordinary people here may not be that familiar with the army, but they are obviously imperial soldiers wearing standard equipment, and judging from the degree to which they are equipped from head to toe, they should be regarded as the best group of people.

The boss gave a few jolts, and hurriedly greeted him: "Several military lords..."

The soldier closest to him raised his hand, interrupted his follow-up directly, and took out a few pieces of paper from his backpack, shook his hands, and explained to him solemnly: "According to the special envoy of the Governor, the order of the Senate , The 'Golden Hoof' Legion will start searching for rebels in the Vosges Valley from now on. This is the only tavern nearby, right? I want to nail the imperial decree in a conspicuous place, citizen, do you have any questions?"

------

Tips.1: "Big Ore" - refers to Ore gold coins.Because the currency value in the late Roman period was chaotic, a relatively idealized currency system is adopted in this article.

The specific currency value and exchange will be posted tomorrow.

Chapter 83 002. Purse and Advice

"No, no—of course not!"

How dare the tavern owner care about these things with the soldiers, not to mention that this is not a big deal, it's just a wanted post.