Heart of the Castle

Chapter 332 An artifact of childbirth—Yan Zhizu
"Sacred Artifact? That's not something you can meet anywhere." Li Wei showed a dubious expression on his face, but thinking that these little monsters escaped from the mage organization called the Tower of Secret Rhyme, Li Wei couldn't help feeling Get to know your interests. "Four Knights, can I go and see that artifact?"

Si'er was a little embarrassed, scratched his scalp and said, "That's a secret place of the Miyun Tribe, and no outsider has ever been there... Well, since it's the Lord's request, I think an exception can be made." Exit the leader of the little monster After making up his mind, he took two steps towards the dark passage, and told Li Wei: "However, Lord Lord, please take your steps lightly, so as not to scare the little bean dings."

"Of course." Li Wei agreed, and then the two walked into the tunnel one after the other. Compared with the warehouse, the guards here are stricter, but they are all little monsters and senior gunmen in dark green robes, and there are no ragged clothes. , Tully death squad with an indifferent face.

"Behind the nursery, we have dug a secret passage leading to the ground. If necessary, we can cover the women and children to evacuate quickly." Si'er explained to Li Wei, "Although the lethality of the Tully death squad is amazing, but for the The tunnel also does a lot of damage, and we are worried that if we arrange them to guard here, the entire tunnel will collapse.”

After passing three guards in a row, Yan's voice sounded in Li Wei's ear again, the voice was still low, but the excitement in it was clearly visible. "I sense it, a part of me is here, contractor, please take it back..."

"Who is walking towards the sacred nursery?" A voice suddenly sounded, thin and trembling, but stern.Si'er, who was walking in front, stopped, and Li Wei saw that his body trembled involuntarily.

"Old woman Che Namu, it's me, Si'er, the leader of the Miyun Tribe." Si'er replied loudly, and Li Wei could hear the fear in his voice.

"Your footsteps are recognizable, but the footsteps of the strange giant behind you have never been heard." Another voice sounded, dry and rough like sand, "Leader Four, the nursery is the most sacred and secret place in the tribe , Strange giants are not welcome to visit." A third voice came in, sharp and piercing, expressing deep dissatisfaction.

"Old woman Chenam, the leader of the tribe has the right to bring anyone into any place of the tribe, including here." When Si'er spoke again, there was a gloomy anger in his voice.

A mass of flames erupted in front of the dark tunnel, and Li Wei's eyes felt uncomfortable with the sudden light, so he had to squint his eyes and look away.This group of flames is suspended not far in front, it does not have black smoke and crackling sound like ordinary flames, but burns silently, sitting below are three robes made of colorful cloth heads, hunched over, skinny Little monsters, they all wore a withered big red flower in their heads, and a long silk thread twirled between their withered fingers, as if it would never end.

From the perspective of human aesthetics, any little monster can't be called good-looking, but these three are especially ugly, like a bad work made by a clumsy craftsman, which makes Li Wei feel unbearable .The little monster sitting in the middle has only one eye, while her two companions are both blind, with empty black eye sockets facing Li Wei, with an indescribably mysterious taste.

"You are the leader, you have the right." The little elf in the front raised his hands high and shouted sharply. "But this giant you brought will bring disaster to the tribe!"

"The giant brings disaster!" The other two elves echoed in unison.

"I saw his figure as tall as a tower, and the shadow attached to his back like a cloak! The scythe of the messenger of death whizzed around him, harvesting life, no matter his enemy or his own side! If the little spirit follows Around him, there will be great disasters, sacrifices, sacrifices, countless sacrifices!" The leader of the elves looked at Li Wei with one eye, his body was shaking, and his mouth made an ominous prophecy.

"Small monsters will not be afraid of sacrifice, for the sake of their homeland and freedom, they will never be afraid." Si'er replied resolutely. "Besides, it's very safe here. The human lord promises never to recruit elves into his army!"

The three elves, known as the old women of Chenam, were silent for a while, followed by an unbearable silence, and the sound of breathing was clearly audible. "He will also take away the magic weapon of the little spirit, so that the little spirit will have no more luxuriant descendants!" The leader of the little spirit complained from a different angle.

"Human lords will not take away their artifacts from the hands of elves." Si'er said, and then turned to Li Wei, "Right?"

"I won't take it away," Li Wei replied, "as long as the artifact really belongs to the elves, or is closely related to their lives."

It was actually very difficult to make this decision, because as soon as Li Wei finished speaking, the earth-shattering howls and complaints of the Alchemy Colossus sounded in his ears.

"In the name of my master, the god of craftsmen and wisdom, Mortilara, Noah, Clemennon, Susan Obi-Wan..., Contractor, you are violating our agreement of equality and mutual benefit! I already feel A part of me is right there, you have to get it back, otherwise..." Yan's voice stopped, because the logical thinking center of the Alchemy Colossus told him that he was not qualified to bargain with Li Wei.The so-called threats are worthless, because Yan himself needs to live in the heart of the castle in order to slowly recover his strength, and currently he has not provided any decent help to the heart of the castle due to his serious physical disability.

Si'er and Li Wei moved forward again, and the old women of Chenam complained and cursed dissatisfiedly, but they had no way to resist the power of the tribal leader. Since the intimidation was ineffective, their only weapon had lost its sharpness. Can sway out of the way.

"Be careful, giant lord, don't trample on the thread of fate, or you will be cursed by fate!" The leader, the old woman Che Namu, seemed to want to threaten Li Wei, but she only got an empty response.

Li Wei has gone far.

The little ghost's nursery is a little different from what Li Wei imagined. It is dry and warm. There are several holes on the roof. The little ghost cleverly uses the polished and smooth steel plate to reflect the sunlight from the outside. It is not as damp and dark as in the cave tunnel. .The nursery bed made of oak is covered with thick and soft straw mattresses, and all the babies are lying on it.Some sprites—Levi thinks they should be females, although it can only be guessed—are busy by the crib, feeding and cleaning the crying little ones.

What surprised Li Wei was not only these, the nursery bed was endless, densely packed to fill his entire field of vision, there were more than fifty little elves busy here, and each of them had to deal with several times as many babies!

"Little monsters... Are all the monsters born like this?" Li Wei's voice seemed a little weird, "Or the little monsters in the Secret Rhythm tribe are far more than the ones I have seen?"

"The fertility of our elves and goblins is about the same, usually four to eight in one litter." Si'er scratched his scalp in embarrassment and replied, "But since getting that artifact, it has fully doubled. Babies fell down like hailstones, and all of them can thrive.” He looked at the army of babies in front of him and sighed, “It’s true that there are too many babies, isn’t it? But the difficulties will pass, When these little spirits grow up, it won't be so difficult. At that time, the Secret Rhythm Tribe will become a powerful tribe of little spirits."

Li Wei hesitated to speak, he always felt that Si'er's theory seemed to have no problem, but there was a big loophole.The increase in the population sounds like a good thing, but looking at those little elves who were shuttling among the cribs, their faces turned pale with exhaustion, Li Wei felt a palpitation in his heart.

In the center of the nursery, there are two giant columns carved from obsidian, about ten meters high and three meters in diameter.The carving techniques of these two giant pillars are extremely rough, but when Li Wei walked in front of the giant pillars, he found that there were countless small runes carved on them, and each rune was extremely complicated, which made people shine It is dazzling to look at.

"This is the artifact of Little Spirit." Si'er proudly pointed to the two giant pillars and said, "But this artifact is not complete," he admitted sadly, "it should be a larger artifact The part that has come off from above, Your Excellency, can be seen from here."

What Si'er was talking about was the top of the giant pillar, and the traces of fracture were clearly visible. "The artifact is incomplete, but it has a strong effect." Si'er continued to explain, "When the elders of the tribe were still alive, they brainstormed and studied the origin of these two giant pillars, and finally guessed part of it from this word. "

Li Wei looked in the direction of Si'er's fingers. If the giant pillars were regarded as two legs, then there used to be something similar to armor on the knees, but now it has become mottled. unfamiliar text.

"This is an ancient text, which has been lost for a long time." Si'er said, "The elders once ventured to the library of the Tower of Secret Rhymes to inquire, and learned that this should be a word, and the word on the giant pillar on the left has been completely worn away. But the right side is still intact." He raised his head triumphantly, "The little elves have figured out the meaning of the word on the right—production!"

"Produce?" Li Wei repeated in surprise.

"That's right, it's birth." Si'er shook his head and replied, "Although the word on the left is gone, the little spirit has also guessed it, and it should be a word for safety. The combination of the two words is safety! That's it. The role of an artifact!"

"Negative, indigestion excretes foul-smelling gas!" Yan's voice almost deafened Li Wei, "That's my name, half worn away!"

Li Wei decided not to tell Si'er about this, to prevent this self-respecting elf from hitting the wall with shame.

"No matter what, Contractor, this is my leg. You must take it back, otherwise it will be a violation of the contract between me and you!" After Yan vented, his voice returned to low, but his tone was very firm.

Li Wei frowned in distress, Yan's request was absolutely reasonable, and it was also the condition Li Wei agreed to when signing the contract.But these two giant pillars are things that the Miyun tribe regards as artifacts and treasures. No matter what conditions he proposes, it may be difficult to exchange them in his hands.

On this point, the young lord who already knew the character of the little elves could be sure of it without probing.

But when Li Wei glanced over those cribs inadvertently, his heart suddenly moved, and he finally thought of the biggest loophole in the theory that Si'er just said.Maybe this is a possibility to retrieve the artifact?

"Fourth Knight, have you thought about it?" Li Wei suddenly turned his head and said, "When these little elves grow up, won't there be more babies born?"

"Oh, that's right." Si'er agreed, "There will be more baby elves, and the Miyun tribe will become stronger and stronger."

"But how many babies can be accommodated here? How many elves are needed to take care of them?" Li Wei pointed to the overcrowded nursery, and the little elves who were busy and wobbly beside the crib.

Si'er obviously didn't think about this question, so he answered a little strangely: "Your Excellency, this shouldn't be a problem. The more the population, the stronger the tribe will be, and there will be more people to take care of more babies... Wait a minute Wait... it seems that there are indeed some problems, let me think about it."

Li Wei gave him time to think about it, and as the time passed, beads of sweat gradually appeared on Si'er's forehead, "Birth and birth, birth and birth... A small monster eats three meals a day, a One hundred is three hundred tons..." The leader of the little elves muttered, making dazzling circles, as if this would help him think. "When I was in the Tower of Secret Rhymes, the little elves never felt that there were many children, but at that time, the evil mages often caught the little elves for experiments. Those who were lucky were gone forever, and those who were unlucky could come back, but they couldn't. No matter how small spirits are, they will eat them instead. It was the same when they escaped from the Tower of Miyun. More little spirits died along the way than survived. If it weren’t for this artifact, the Miyun tribe would have survived not come down."

Si'er looked at the two giant obsidian pillars in front of him with emotion, tears flickering in his eyes. "Now the little monster's tribe is safe, and no little monster will die unexpectedly, so... I know!" He suddenly turned around and bowed deeply to Li Wei.

"This artifact protects the Miyun tribe to overcome difficulties, but it cannot belong to the Miyun tribe forever. God's gift is limited, and unlimited demands will only lead to the vicious expansion of the tribe, and even the inevitable decline in the end. "His voice was sonorous and powerful, "The old woman Chenam is right, the human lord will take away the artifact of the little elves, but this is not a disaster, but the entire tribe has been saved!"

(End of this chapter)