rune hunter

Chapter 41 Kobold Geomancer
When it was daylight, Apache slipped into Istaron in the caravan's van.The guards at the gate of the city were discussing the news about the plague in low voices, a little absent-minded and did not check carefully.

In the past few days, the number of caravans coming along the King's Road has decreased suddenly. It is said that a plague broke out in Cobylon to the north. Half of the caravans that escaped from there died of illness in the forest, and the corpses piled up on the King's Road.The surviving people were devastated one by one. When they saw the gate of Istaron, they squeezed in desperately, for fear of being stopped outside.

"Stupid human beings." Apache overheard the guard's conversation and couldn't help shaking his head.Even if the concept of "hygiene" has never been in the ancestors, the kobolds themselves rarely get sick.They see disease as the curse of the blind goddess Ankalian, and the high priests of many tribes have a deep understanding and knowledge of this.

As a geomancer of the branch tribe of the Longtail Tribe, Apache's knowledge mainly focused on sacrifices and divination, although he also knew about various diseases.If there is a sick person in his group, he should be executed immediately, and then buried far away, so as to protect the entire group.

It's not like these ignorant human beings who only care about running for their lives without thinking about whether they will spread the disease to their fellow humans.

Many people assume that kobolds are just savage humanoid monsters, ignoring the fact that they are actually intelligent.Kobolds have the same beliefs as humans. They worship Gaia, the goddess of the earth, and have real priests, that is, geomancers.The geomancer is responsible for presiding over tribal sacrifices and inheriting history, and at the same time has wisdom far beyond that of ordinary humans.

Apache has been a geomancer for 30 years. He was captured by a mage as an experiment material when he was a child, and later became the mage's experimental assistant by accident.After the death of the mage, he was resold to the nobles of the drow elves. He worked as a slave and a pet, and after he escaped, he became a thief and set up a street stall.These experiences in his youth made him a legend among the tribe, and also made him old and cunning.

The landwalker's war for king election is intensifying, and almost all dungeons are involved in it.The battle of the strong detonated the dormant Ambéral Volcano, and the erupting magma flooded the Mushroom Plain. Countless underground races were displaced and forced to become victims of the war.

The chief of the Longtail tribe obeyed the command of the dungeon lord for food, but Apache led his tribe and chose to leave quietly.He knew too well the malevolence of the drow to believe any of their promises.

Apache led the tribe into exile, and accidentally got a magical relic on the way. This relic protected them from the pursuit of the enemy, and guided them to find the way to the surface world.He regards this sacred object as a blessing from the goddess of the earth, and he always protects it personally, never letting any of his tribe touch it.

Although Apache was cautious enough, it couldn't stop the greed in the hearts of the people.While he was busy dealing with the attack of human mercenaries on the ground, a despicable thief stole the holy relic and tried to escape in the chaos.But under the sudden intensified offensive of humans, this unlucky idiot was shot by an arrow just halfway, and his head was cut off.

When the sacred object was lost, the mysterious power that protected the tribe also disappeared.Apache, who was commanding the battle, suddenly raised his head, and he felt a powerful and evil force rushing straight up from the depths of the ground, sweeping across the battlefield.Immediately afterwards, the earth wailed, and the whole mountain began to tremble. He realized that the concealed barrier he had arranged in the underground passage had been blasted with brute force.

Apache wiped the cold sweat off his head, and without hesitation ordered the tribe to devote all its strength to force the mercenaries who were more annoying than flies out of the mine.After nightfall, he led the remaining clansmen to slowly retreat from the other side of the Red Stone Ridge and hide in the forest.

Although the loss was heavy, there was still hope after all.As long as he retrieved the relic before those guys from the ground rushed up, he still had a chance to save his tribe.Through divination, he detected that humans had brought the relic back to the city, but Apache was convinced that humans could not possibly recognize the value of the kobold relic.

"Stupid human beings." Apache gritted his teeth and underestimated again, covered his face with a hood, jumped out of the car and slipped into the alley beside the street while no one was paying attention.

Relying on the vague perception of the sacred object in his mind, the kobold geomancer walked along the base of the wall in the direction he identified.He was twice as tall as an ordinary kobold, and hidden in the cloak he looked like an eleven or twelve-year-old child from the outside.

Although he had never entered a human city before, Apache had wandered in drow dungeons for many years.He thought that this inconspicuous attire would not attract anyone's attention, but he made a common-sense mistake—there are all kinds of races in the dungeon, and there are endless conspiracy and assassinations, so it is normal to cover one's face.But in an orderly human society, especially Istaren, which is controlled by the army, such a sneaky appearance in broad daylight is extremely suspicious.

Turning around the intersection, Apache twitched his nose and found a shop not far away selling steaming meat pies.He fought and moved all day yesterday, and had no time or mood to eat. Now he suddenly smelled the smell of food, and couldn't help swallowing secretly.

The geomancer hesitated for a moment in his heart, but he still gave in to the temptation and decided to fill his stomach before tracing the whereabouts of the holy object.

In order to avoid attracting attention, he did not rob or steal directly, but chose to pay honestly like a human being.But when he walked up to the boss and took out his pocket, he suddenly remembered that he didn't have any common currency on him!

The kobolds are used to exchanging minerals with other underground races for food. Usually, the same races barter for things. Apache has a noble status, and he doesn't need to do anything he wants. Naturally, he has forgotten the living habits in big cities over time.

Under the suspicious eyes of the boss, Apache took out a piece of gold the size of a thumb from his pocket.This piece of gold is actually a spell-casting material for divination, and at this time, in order not to cause trouble, he can only use it first.

Wait a minute... Wouldn't it be more interesting to buy meatloaf with gold?The overly nervous geomancer suddenly turned his head, his hands trembled, and the back of his head was suddenly covered in cold sweat.

The boss was taken aback, but he didn't pull out the machete to kill and steal goods as Apache imagined, he just frowned, slapped the geomancer on the head and angrily said: "Who are you, so ignorant?" Why don’t you put it away and wait to recruit thieves? Your adults won’t beat you to death if they find out!”

This is a good old man!Apache skillfully pretended to be beaten and turned around to run away, but he made a positive evaluation of the boss in his heart.It's harder to find a nice guy than a dragon's egg in the dungeon, where there are only robbers, thugs, liars and psychos.

In the blink of an eye, he passed through two alleys again, and could vaguely feel the breath of holy objects coming from ahead, but Apache's footsteps became slower and slower, and he was still thinking about the meat pies at the boss's stand.

The kobold tribe migrated from the ground, and there is very little dry food left.Those dried rat meat and black grass roots can barely satisfy your hunger in normal times, but compared with the fragrant meatloaf, they are rubbish.

Apache heard his stomach growling, and a voice in his heart persuaded him to give up the sacred object, go back to find the kind boss, buy all the meatloaf with gold, and eat it.But his sense of responsibility as a geomancer told him that the sacred object was more important to the whole tribe, and he must not give up halfway.He hesitated again and again, but still didn't look back.

At this moment, Apache felt that he was really a kobold hero with high moral character and strong will.

The geomancer, who had withstood the torture of his mind, quickened his pace, turned the corner of the street, and finally felt the aura of the holy object clearly.He narrowed his eyes and looked intently, and quickly locked on to the target.

It was a young human girl, wearing a tan plaid skirt, holding a basket of freshly baked honey bread.The breath of the holy object was attached to her body. It seemed that those bread... No, it seemed that she should have been in contact with the holy object.Just grab her and snatch the bread... No, I want to torture her to get the bread out of her mouth...

"Cunning human!" Apache just wanted to hit the wall with his head desperately. Hunger had eroded his thinking so much that he couldn't think normally.The kobold's natural keen sense of smell made the smell of food multiply in his mind, seducing his saliva to secrete crazily, and he couldn't swallow it cleanly.

The phantom of the bread became more and more real, and finally approached slowly.Apache took a deep breath, and found that the bread that appeared in front of him was not a hallucination.

"Little friend, are you hungry?" The girl's sweet voice sounded like the sound of heaven.

I met a good man again... Apache, the geomancer, bit his bread and burst into tears.

(End of this chapter)