Heart of the Castle

Chapter 206 A Town Shrouded in Disaster
Li Wei and Wilpus didn't send Babrupa to the Temple of Storms to receive the reward, the main reason is that this guy who claimed to have traveled all over the world was a pretty good guide.Although Wilps had a career as an adventurer more than ten years ago with the wandering knight he was loyal to, after all, time has changed and many things have changed.

And just from the portrait on the notice, it's really hard to tell if it's Babrupa.The person who wrote the painting obviously added his own ideas. The man on the notice has a gloomy and treacherous face, with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks. From a few meters away, it can be seen that he is definitely not a kind person.

But the devout clergyman still felt a little nervous. He jumped off Wilpus' mount, turned the hood of his tattered yellow robe over his head, and lowered his face even more.

Three people and two horses stepped onto the drawbridge. What surprised Li Wei was that the castle was supposed to be heavily guarded, but now it seemed rather lazy and casual. Homeless people who have nothing to do when they go up are dangling around.

"Is this... North Aura, the city of fallen demons?" Li Wei looked at the majestic city wall, which was nearly ten meters high, with dense marks of knives and axes on it, vaguely reminiscent of the tragic battle when the demon army besieged the city when the demon disaster came. .

"Strange, it wasn't like this when I left." Babrupa, who was walking with his head down, suddenly said softly.

"Ku Ximu, the just sleep guide, may your power come here..." came a deep, sighing voice, "...have pity on these pious souls, and light their way to the Kingdom of Eternal Night!"

"Master Li Wei, get to the side of the road!" Wilpus patted Li Wei on the shoulder, then pulled his mount to stand beside the suspension bridge, lowering his head slightly.Li Wei followed him, also lowered his head slightly, but looked at a group of strangely dressed pedestrians who appeared from the city gate.

There were about a dozen of these people, all wearing black cloaks and masks that mopped the floor, only two holes were opened in the eyes, and the whole person looked gloomy because of this attire.In the hands of the leader in front of them, a strange divine emblem was held up high. On the background as black as the night, it depicted a bust of an old man with a serene expression. However, on the right half of the old man's face, the muscles suddenly disappeared. What's shown is a grinning skeleton!
"Sue the dead?" Li Wei's heart was shocked, and he pressed his hand on the hilt of his waist suddenly. If it wasn't for a powerful big hand covering Li Wei's wrist, he might be young in the next moment. The knights will draw their swords out of their sheaths, and slash at these black robes who don't look like good things.

"Master Li Wei, they are not accusers of the dead, they are also believers in long-sleeping guides, but they are soul-comforting people who take funerals and comfort the souls of the dead as their profession." Wilps said in a low voice: "Doing anything to these people, no matter what. It's not allowed."

The comforters walking at the back of the line all pushed a wheelbarrow in their hands, and every few steps they stopped, they stopped and prayed like a sigh.A straw mat covered the car, blocking people's sight, but when the group of men in black robes slowly walked past Li Wei, a gust of wind suddenly hit and lifted a corner of the straw mat.

Li Wei just saw something on the wheelbarrow, and couldn't help feeling a chill hit his heart.

The car was actually full of corpses, piled up on top of it, it seemed that there were at least five or six of them, and there were no less than ten such wheelbarrows in the hands of the comforter!
"Merciful Instructor of Eternal Sleep, please take me away and leave them behind!"

"Have mercy, just take me away!"

"Father, have mercy on us!"

A group of crying men and women staggered behind the black-robed soul comforter. From time to time, someone wanted to jump on the wheelbarrow and cry loudly, but the soul comforter desperately blocked them from passing.

"These people should be relatives of the deceased, right? No wonder they are so sad." Thinking like this, Li Wei passed these people with a heavy heart, and stepped into the gate of North Aola.

If you don't count the heart of the castle, North Aura is the third town Li Wei has seen with his own eyes.This former military town is much more magnificent than the Viscount's Castle, but the streets are extremely narrow and crooked; there are high walls on both sides of the street, all of which are built of solid gray granite; Levi looked up, It was found that every few meters, a crenel would appear on the high wall. If an archer were placed behind each crenel, the street could be tightly blocked.

"North Aola has never been breached, so the defense facilities here have never been used." Wilps sighed.

"Yes, yes, sirs, let us hurry down this street. A short distance ahead, turn to the left, and you will find a very good tavern with good and cheap food, The ale is mellow and delicious...Of course, for a devout priest like me, a few slices of black bread and clear water are enough." Babrupa said while trying to shrink his body into the shadow of Levi's mount.

"Father God, Father God! Accept the life I dedicate to you, and spare my child!"

A heart-piercing howl suddenly erupted from the side of the street, and then an unkempt middle-aged woman rushed out, holding a shining dagger in her hand.Just before everyone had time to react, the middle-aged woman raised the dagger high and pierced deeply into her chest!

Li Wei couldn't help but uttered a cry of surprise, and hurriedly ran towards the middle-aged woman who fell on the ground.Faster than him was a man in a robe who rushed out after the middle-aged woman. The man ran to the middle-aged woman and squatted down, and forcefully opened the handle of the knife that the middle-aged woman was holding firmly.

The dagger pierced deeply, and happened to pierce through the heart, and the middle-aged woman died almost immediately.It's hard to imagine how such a frail woman burst out with such a terrible and decisive belief in seeking death, Li Wei looked at the pale but serene middle-aged woman who got what she wanted, and shivered involuntarily.

"What made her act so crazy? She didn't know that the soul of a person who committed suicide would not be accepted by the Eternal Sleeper, and could only fall into the river of hell?" Li Wei murmured.

"She knows." The person squatting beside the middle-aged woman with her head down said in a mournful voice, "But she is willing to do so, she would rather her soul endure the endless flames of hell, and hope to save her two children. "

"What happened to her child?" Levi asked.

"It's the plague." The man straightened up, and Li Wei saw a small divine emblem on his chest - a pattern of a golden lightning piercing through the dark clouds.

"Praise the Lord of Radiance, are you the priest of the Temple of Storms?"

"Praise forever, the humble servant of the Thunderbolt greets you." The man replied in a low voice, and then he put a piece of linen on the face of the dead middle-aged woman, and prayed a few words in a low voice.

Li Wei stood aside and waited until the priest of the Temple of Storms finished praying before speaking again. "How could the plague become prevalent in the parish of the Temple of Storms? Didn't you guys think of something?"

The priest of the Temple of Storms suddenly raised his head and looked at Li Wei almost with a fierce expression. His eyes were blood red, and it was like a gloomy will-o'-the-wisp burning inside.Li Wei couldn't help but took half a step back, subconsciously holding the hilt of the sword with his hand.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be angry with you." The priest of the Temple of Storms calmed down his excitement, and then smiled bitterly and said, "Don't you know? North Aola has been turned into a disaster by the plague." City, the Temple of Storms has exhausted all methods: magic spells, prayers, large-scale sacrament parades... We have tried everything, but it didn't work."

"When did the plague appear?" Wilps, who had been listening for a while, interjected a question.

"A month ago."

"It seems that many people died." Wilps sighed heavily.

"According to the statistics of the Brotherhood of Soul Comforters, one tenth of the people have died, most of them are old people, women and children." The pastor showed a sad expression on his face, lowered his head and covered his eyes with his hands. "I personally sent away more than 20 people. Sorry, there is no way to save them..."

Two comforters in black robes appeared silently like ghosts, one of them was pushing a wheelbarrow in his hand, and the other was empty-handed.They walked towards the dead middle-aged woman, as if the god of death was approaching their prey.Li Wei and the others took a few steps back in a daze, watching the comforter put the middle-aged woman's body on the trolley, and then pushed it out of the city gate.

"Where are they going to send the corpse?" Li Wei asked puzzled.

"Outside the city, and then throw it into a deep stream." The pastor's voice came from between his fingers, and it sounded a little muffled.

"This is simply blasphemy against the dead!" Li Wei clenched his fists and cried in a low voice.

"I know, but there is nothing we can do... This plague is so terrible that even the people who buried the corpses will be infected. get sick too."

(End of this chapter)