"It's the 18th."
"How do you determine who is his?"
"Who knows... Let's go out and look for it after we finish eating."
They had arrived, but they still couldn't act immediately.
The reason is simple—not just anyone can apply to enter the plains. Normally, they need to join the Red Earth Patrol on shift change to ensure that there is at least one Gold-rank member in the team.
"Crash!!!"
Just as they were chatting, a crisp sound suddenly came from the door of the hall.
Turning around, I saw a young girl in a grey dress and headscarf kneeling on the ground. There was a pile of porcelain shards lying on the floor at her feet, mixed with a bunch of dried fruits.
She was in the middle of a queue and seemed to be with the group.
"stupid!"
A black shadow "slapped" on the ground next to him. It was a slightly fat man who walked out of the team, and the whip in his hand made a loud noise.
"Again! Louise! Look at you! Your mother sold you to me to be a maid, but you can't even carry things! You are such a waste!"
The man yelled at the girl, using all sorts of obscene language mixed together, causing many of the guests to frown.
But Hitzfeld and the other two remained indifferent.
They all noticed that although the man cursed fiercely and whipped the girl with a loud noise from time to time, none of the whips actually hit the girl.
He did it on purpose.
This method is used deliberately to divert attention so that potential bad customers will no longer have any ideas about the girl.
"A lot of mercenaries here?"
Hitzfeld glanced into the hall.
Most of the people seen were strong men, each of them wearing leather armor over their cloth clothes and carrying a musket on their waist. They were truly the standard appearance of mercenaries.
"Selling your life is always more expensive than hunting."
Darent snorted noncommittally.
"Besides, this is a semi-military town after all. The army maintains public order, so all transactions are more stable."
Nodding, Hitzfeld drank another mouthful of porridge, pulled the Ring of Desire out of his collar with his left hand, and played with it in his hand.
She tried deductive reasoning in her mind, trying to guess the identities of these people.
Most of them are not difficult. After all, the signs of mercenaries and bounty hunters are too obvious, whether it is their conversation or temperament, not to mention that they basically carry weapons.
As she was looking, she suddenly noticed a couple of guests in the opposite corner.
Is that a strong old man?
She wasn't sure...his hair was all gray, but his body was strong, so it was obvious that he was not past his prime yet.
Sitting next to the man was a girl wearing a light brown skirt and a hood. She was also dressed like a ranger, wearing high boots and a dagger hanging from a belt around her waist.
Just then, the sturdy old man seemed to sense her gaze and looked up and glanced in her direction.
Then he stared at the Ring of Desire in her hand, his eyes widened, and he quickly stood up and walked towards here.
Chapter 18 The Spreading Curse
Seeing his actions, Darent raised his hand to signal the other two people to sit down first, and he stood up to stand in front of the man.
The old man was so eager to talk to Hitzfeld that he even ignored Darent and tried to break through his defense from the side.
Of course this doesn't work.
Although Darent is very thin, he is not a pure human after all. His slender limbs can instantly burst out huge strength, and this body shape also gives him excellent flexibility.
The old man tried several times to get through but failed, so he stopped and looked at him carefully, and tentatively extended his right hand towards him.
"I have to admit my mistake...I really shouldn't have stared at her like that."
Hitzfeld's one eye narrowed slightly.
She noticed that the man's shoulders and arms were a little stiff when he moved from side to side.
And his back... He should have a slight hunchback, but he covered it up very well. If no one had noticed when he was swaying just now, the opened collar would have exposed the metal strip passing around his armpit, and no one would have noticed that he was using this method to correct his hunchback.
"We accept your apology." Darent stretched out his hand and shook it, causing the old man to grimaced. "...Then can you go back now? We have other things to do later, so I'm afraid we won't have time to get to know two mercenary rangers."
“No, no…” The old man suddenly became anxious. He raised his voice a little, obviously wanting the two people sitting in the back to hear: “Wait! We are not mercenaries! I am a professor at Minglun University! Really… If you don’t believe me, I can find someone to vouch for me!”
"Maps, let him come over." Hitzfeld became slightly interested in this man.
Minglun University is the best university in the Diocese of Sinze. Their humanities department is very famous, and is even comparable to Wienport in the field of humanities and arts.
However, it is located in North Xinze, and she didn't have the opportunity to visit it the last time she went to Xinze Diocese. Thinking back on it afterwards, she felt a little regretful.
Darent let the man go in a depressed mood, and watched the old man take over his previous seat without any hesitation.
He wanted to hint to Hitzfeld with his eyes, asking her to mock the other party a little, but the girl didn't react at all and just looked the old man up and down.
"I am really a professor at Minglun University." The old man took out his wallet and a small notebook from it. "This is my ID... Look... Many people here know me..."
He was originally going to hand the notebook to Hitzfeld, but Xia Yibing snatched it away halfway. He could not help but stare and open his mouth with an expression of surprise on his face.
"Full Professor... Bogin-Wellensel." Xia Yibing read out the name on the certificate, gently scratched its surface with her fingernails a few times, nodded, and confirmed that this thing was not a forgery.
"What do you want to talk to us about?" She rolled her eyes and stared at Professor Wei Lunsel. Although her expression did not change, the coldness of her tone made people feel cold in their hearts.
Weilencel already regretted it.
If he had known that these people were so difficult to deal with...
Well, he might still come running over with eager eyes.
After all, if he sensed correctly, the ring he had just seen was definitely not an ordinary item. Even if there was only a slight chance, even if he begged for it shamelessly, or even used some special means, he didn't want to miss such a research opportunity.
"I want to see the ring on that lady's hand." Willensel said immediately, "Of course, I can pay... I... I want to buy that ring. I can pay 10,000 Goli. If you have relatives or children who want to receive education, I can also help you contact the school."
This condition was definitely generous, and Hitzfeld and the other two immediately realized that the other party had no intention of "bullying" them.
Even if the other party is also a supernatural being and possesses the supernatural ability to sense the ring of desire, he would not offer such a price right away to three strangers.
Judging from the bargaining chips he added later, 10,000 Goli should be his bottom price. From this, we can see that he doesn't know how to talk business at all, which is indeed worthy of his professor identity.
Xia Yibing frowned slightly and turned her head to look at Hitzfeld.
In this situation, it is not easy for her to help refuse, so the owner of the ring has to say this.
"I'm curious." Hitzfeld continued to look down at the ring, but what he said made the old man's face change drastically: "Why would someone who deals with bone fossils all day long have such an interest in jewelry..."
"Do you know me?" Weirensel looked at her in surprise, "Or have you heard of me from them?"
"do not know."
"Then how do you know I'm an archaeologist?"
"Your knuckles," Hitzfeld said softly. "There are thick calluses on the knuckles of your right hand, near the thumb, and on both sides of the fingers... They look like they are left by years of holding a brush and a carving knife."
Weilensel looked down and saw that there were indeed thick calluses on his right hand where he had been touched.
But he refused to accept: "Painters and sculptors would leave similar marks!"
"Oh... but their normal work is unlikely to cause dislocation of bones in the shoulders and arms." Hitzfeld grinned slightly, "So it should be archaeologists. Only they need to drill holes frequently and have to maintain a stiff posture for a long time to clean the dust."
"..." Weirencel opened his mouth wide with an incredible expression.
"I don't want to waste your time, professor," Hitzfeld said directly. "I don't care about your financial ability or how you feel it's special, but I have to refuse you because it is of vital importance to me."
“No, no!” The old man became anxious again upon hearing this, and waved his hand to try to interrupt her: “That’s not the case, young lady. I’m not coveting your treasure, but this thing may contain deadly dangers! It is very similar to the evil god medium I once learned about in an ancient book! Wearing this thing for a long time will definitely cause trouble!”
Hitzfeld and Xia Yibing couldn't help but look at each other, and a slight smile appeared on their faces at the same time.
Judging from the fact that he knew the origin of this ring, he was indeed a man of real talent and knowledge.
But don't forget that this ring has changed a lot compared to the original one. Its original form has been destroyed, and only a little residual power is gathered in a fake blood-patterned gold ring.
This can still be seen, and the two can be linked together, which shows that the other party is definitely a transcendent and possesses quite outstanding perception abilities.
Taking into account multiple factors, they determined that the old man had no ill intentions.
But he certainly couldn't imagine the story behind this ring...it no longer had that deterrent power.
But there was no need to explain this to the other party, so they politely refused again with a firm attitude. The three of them packed up their suitcases and left the hotel under the old man's unwilling gaze.
"professor……"
At this time, the hooded girl who had not come up before came over quietly.
"I told you those people are not easy to deal with, but you insisted on going..."
"Oh, what do you know!" Weirensel waved his hands fiercely.
"I, your teacher, am not after the treasure. Wearing that thing all the time can really kill you!"
"But they don't seem to be willing to listen to advice..."
"Then I'll go find Knight Smail!" The old man suddenly thought of a solution.
"They obviously don't trust me, hurry up Leah...we need to ask Smail to help prove it!"
At the same time, Hitzfeld and the other two had already arrived on the street, walking and strolling along, trying to find the person sent by Frick to pick them up.
But they didn’t know whether they were unlucky or the other party didn’t arrive at all, they didn’t see anyone “who looked like they were looking for someone”, but the weirdness of the town was eye-catching.
The atmosphere in Shein Town is not normal.
There were very few pedestrians on the street. Except for passers-by dressed as mercenaries, almost all soldiers and civilian residents wore hats and masks.
It was just like preventing an infectious disease...Dallent couldn't help but stop someone and ask him what was going on.
"You are not rangers, are you?" The man looked at Hitzfeld and showed a positive expression: "You are definitely not rangers... Then I advise you to leave quickly. Wengsin is not suitable for playing exploration games now!"
"What happened?"
"Anesthesia!" the other party complained, "I don't know when it started to spread... It won't kill anyone, but it's a curse after all. Who knows if it will cause fatal symptoms in the future..."
"Anyway, the current atmosphere is not good, you'd better wear a mask!"
Chapter 19 The Inventor of Movies
Aesthesia?
After letting the passerby go, the three of them were extremely surprised by the information they received.
First of all, if it is really aesthesia, wearing a mask... this will most likely only have a psychological comforting effect.
Evil curses are not viruses. It is possible that one day in the future a breakthrough in the research of "evil studies" will lead to the development of masks that can prevent curses, but that will definitely not happen today.
Secondly…how could anesthesia be spreading here?
“He said the earliest transmission started a month ago,” Dallent said. “That definitely has nothing to do with us.”
What he meant was that the aesthesia in Shein Town was definitely not transmitted by Hitzfeld.
"Of course it's okay!" Xia Yibing said dissatisfiedly, "Otherwise, how come we are not infected? Captain Reyer and the others are fine too!"
"Oh, I'm just analyzing..."
"Even if I analyze it, it won't work!"
"Stop arguing." Hitzfeld stopped them. "Look at it from a bright side. This means we are in the right place."
right.
The other two reacted quickly - if it was indeed the curse symptoms that began to erupt about a month ago, then it was almost the same time as Hitzfeld's aesthesia!
What does this mean? It means that the source of this curse must be in Wengsayin! And it is far from being as simple as the minor illness and disaster they initially judged. There may be a conspiracy of evildoers behind it!
The most urgent task is to find Frick as soon as possible, otherwise he is unfamiliar with the place and even Darent doesn't know where the library base is hidden, which will hinder anything he wants to do.
Half an hour later, through a chance encounter with the airship captain, bearded Reyer, the three finally got in touch with the parish knights of Shein Town under his guarantee and introduction. They were escorted to the city of Onsin by a silver-rank knight and found a large, heavily guarded hotel.
Here they met Kangana-Flick.
Hitzfeld was surprised at Frick's appearance: it had only been about a year since they last met, but half of his hair had turned white, and even the corners of his eyes had obvious wrinkles.
Is Onsin such a tiring place?
