Gunshots came from directly above the inn, and judging by the clarity of the sound, their origin was not the nearest second floor, but more like the furthest fourth floor.
“Oh, damn it!”
The Captain cursed under his breath, gathered his cards, apologized to Xia De, and then walked with Lieutenant Hoyle to the counter on the first floor, apparently intending to go upstairs with the innkeeper to check the situation. Before the local police arrived, they, in their Delarion officer uniforms, needed to secure the scene and check if there were any injured people who could be rescued.
The guests on the first floor silently paid their bills and left through the door, afraid of being caught up in the trouble. Xia De neither followed the two officers upstairs nor left with most of the others.
He stood up, ordered two low-alcohol ciders from the waiter who had replaced the bearded innkeeper, then carried the glasses and sat opposite the Bard in the corner, pushing one of the drinks towards him.
Although the Kingdom prohibited private brewing, small-scale fruit wine brewing in large inns like this was allowed. These two ciders were brewed from the first harvest of Sicar Mountain apples this summer, and while they couldn't compare to the fruit wines from large wineries, at least they were cheap.
With a shooting upstairs, the Bard couldn't continue his performance. But leaving now would mean no other income for the day, so the Poet huddled in the corner, waiting. Seeing Xia De sit opposite him and even offer him a drink, the Poet recognized Xia De as the person who had thrown out two one-shilling silver coins earlier:
“Thank you.”
He said cautiously, not knowing what the young man in front of him wanted to do.
“Do you know many ancient legends of Middlesburg and the Sicar Mountain area?”
Xia De asked.
“Yes.”
The Poet nodded cautiously.
“Since you can’t perform now, why don’t you tell me these stories? I’ll pay for your drinks this afternoon.”
Although Xia De didn't mention thanking him with cash, getting free drinks on an afternoon where business clearly couldn't be done was not bad.
“No problem, what do you want to know—”
Bang!
Another gunshot suddenly rang out upstairs. Although it was two floors away, Xia De could tell it was different from the previous gunshot.
The Poet was startled, but Xia De didn't care much. Even if a Ring術士 wanted to kill someone with a gun, he would use silent spells or similar methods to eliminate the gunshots, so the matter upstairs certainly had nothing to do with a Ring術士.
“I want to know how many local beliefs there are, meaning secret cults that only circulate locally in Middlesburg.”
Xia De had learned similar information from the data given by the Spiritual Cultivation Order, but he still wanted to inquire from the perspective of an ordinary person.
“I certainly don't know as many local secret cults as the Orthodox Church, but there are quite a few that circulate privately.”
Seeing that Xia De was not afraid of the gunshots, the Poet became a little bolder:
“There are no legends about evil gods here.”
When he mentioned “evil gods,” he instinctively flinched, his eyes looking towards the staircase leading to the second floor. A small number of the guests who hadn't left remained in their original seats, while the rest gathered at the staircase to watch the commotion.
“But there are some special beliefs. The Old God of legend, the twin gods, are said to have stayed here, so local residents generally believe that twins have special spirituality.”
“There’s a similar saying elsewhere.”
Xia De nodded, but the cult of that twin gods had long since perished. The Spiritual Cultivation Order, rooted here, clearly recorded the disappearance of that Old God cult, so there was no need to worry.
He and the Poet discussed the special nature of “twins” for a few sentences, which then led to some local customs. During this time, two police officers patrolling nearby rushed over. One ran up the stairs guided by a busybody, while the other blew his whistle to find help.
Two streets away was the Middlesburg City train station, and this area not only had many police but also a prepared infantry company. Of course, the current situation did not yet require the help of the garrison.
“Besides the Old God, there are some other special beliefs here.”
The Poet took a sip of cider and then pointed in the direction of Sicar Mountain:
“Additionally, there is a very traditional worship of the Great Mountain here.”
“That’s understandable. Living off the land, it’s natural to develop worship for Sicar Mountain, which nurtures this City.”
Xia De nodded. The Poet took a moment to understand Xia De’s stiffly translated “living off the land” before he grasped it:
“Yes, before Middlesburg became a frontline between the two countries, it was a very small Town. At that time, there was no steam industry as there is today. People made a living by hunting for the local lord and tending orchards, thus forming this localized belief. But with the advent of the Steam Age, this primitive belief itself gradually died out, and now it can only be found in the books of some folklorists.”
This vanished primitive nature worship mentioned by the Bard was not mentioned in the Spiritual Cultivation Order's material, probably because the cult considered this history insignificant.
“Worshipping the mountain is interesting. Do you know that Sicar Mountain is a dormant volcano?”
Xia De suddenly asked, and the Poet took a sip of cider and nodded:
“Of course, since we mention dormant volcanoes, we must mention another traditional natural belief. In fact, there is a tradition of Fire Worship here.”
“Fire Worship?”
A sergeant with a star on his shoulder, accompanied by two senior police officers and a group of ordinary police officers, rushed into the inn from the entrance, with two doctors carrying medicine chests in between. Two police officers were left to guard the first floor, and the others all rushed up the stairs. But after the second gunshot, no more gunshots were heard for a long time, suggesting that the matter had ended.
“Is this tradition of Fire Worship a form of nature worship, or is it related to the legend that a great one with the mighty power of fire once appeared here?”
Xia De asked curiously, waving to the waiter and letting the Bard, who had finished his cider, order more drinks. While the Poet was talking to the waiter, Xia De took a sip of the cider in front of him. The taste of alcohol in it was much lighter than any wine he had ever drunk, basically equivalent to fruit juice.
And seeing the fruit wine, he somehow thought of yesterday's dinner again.
“The Fire Worship tradition in Middlesburg is also quite ancient. Although large-scale sacrificial activities are no longer seen in the contemporary era dominated by the Five Gods Church, it can be learned from traditional stories that the distinctive local festival of Middlesburg, the Fire Worship Festival in autumn, originated from this.”
Xia De had also heard of the local special festival, but the modern mainstream view is that it is a prayer for the dry autumn not to ignite mountain fires. After all, autumn is the most important season for logging, hunting, and fruit and vegetable harvesting.
He pondered, asking the Poet these things, just wanting to see if he could obtain divinity in Middlesburg, like he did in Coldwater Port. But clearly, the religious situation in this inland City was much more complicated than he thought.
“Moreover, there is a saying that this ancient natural worship of fire has been absorbed by the Natural Church.”
The Poet lowered his voice, knowing that such words were best not heard by a third person:
“However, if you are interested in learning about these matters, you can ask Mr. Thales, the owner of this inn. Although he is a follower of the Natural God, the Lord of All Things, he greatly worships fire.”
“Understood.”
Xia De nodded.
At this moment, footsteps came from the staircase again. The innkeeper, with a worried expression, came down to the first floor to retrieve the account book, accompanied by an armed police officer.
“It seems someone really died.”
The Poet, who had known the bearded owner for many years, shook his head:
“Someone dying in the inn will greatly affect business.”
The waiter brought the Poet a new drink. He probably still hoped to perform normally in the evening, so he only ordered a low-alcohol ale.
Xia De paid for the second drink:
“Twin worship, mountain worship, Fire Worship—this place is really interesting. Perhaps it can provide more inspiration for my new book.”
He deliberately said this.
“You are a Writer?”
The Poet asked curiously, and Xia De nodded:
“An unknown Writer. Do you know the hamilton detective story collection serialized in the Steam Bird Daily? I want to imitate this kind of Detective novel and write a new book. I am currently collecting material.”
“Of course, I know. This can almost be called the most popular story in Delarion this autumn. The Steam Bird Daily is only distributed around Tobesk and in the central and western parts of the Kingdom, but because of this serialized story, even in the Middlesburg area, you can now find places selling old issues of the Steam Bird Daily.”
When it came to Detective stories, the Bard had many topics:
“I also subscribed to a copy of the Steam Bird Daily at the local post office. It’s a pity it’s copyrighted, otherwise, I really want to adapt the stories of Hamilton Detective into poetry. Speaking of which, it’s a coincidence, the final victor of the Great City Player, that Thunder Jeed Knight, also has the surname Hamilton.”
He failed to successfully connect the two.
Footsteps came from the staircase again. A senior police officer came down from upstairs, calling out the names of the two male waiters on the first floor. The latter followed the police upstairs, somewhat panicked.
“The taller one was responsible for checking the corridor windows on the fourth floor last night and even complained to Thales about the draft from the windows. The other was responsible for helping guests on the upper floors move luggage.”
The Poet told Xia De that he was very familiar with the situation here.
“Is this the start of the interrogation? I wonder if anyone died because of it.”
Xia De said softly, then asked again:
“Besides twin worship and Fire Worship, are there any other localized beliefs?”
It seemed that no evil god worship had appeared locally, or perhaps the Poet dared not speak of it, so Xia De could only explore these more folkloric things.
