Traveling through The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

"You know it all?"

Eric did not deny it. The room fell silent. Lund held the rabbit leg in his hand, but he did not bite it. He looked at me, then turned to look at Eric. The smile on Eric's face disappeared. He raised his hand and pointed at the door, indicating that Lydia might be eavesdropping on our conversation at the door.

"I guessed. You said that the members of the Circle possessed werewolf blood. So when you and Skoyue were in a hurry to drive me away that day, I felt something was wrong. As for Lydia, she already knows something more or less. Even if she is not eavesdropping now, I will tell her later. She is my servant, and I believe she is someone who can keep a secret."

Of course I would not tell him that I know the plot of the comrades' missions and can tell whether someone is alive or dead by just snapping my fingers. Anyway, I am now the master of Lydia. The nobles value this kind of affiliation. No matter what the reason is, those who betray their master will inevitably be despised. If they have a bad reputation, it will be difficult for them to survive in this circle. Besides, Lydia has been following me recently. If I deliberately drive her away at this time, it will confirm that there is a conspiracy. If I arouse her curiosity and make her pry into my privacy every day, I might as well tell her the truth. If she really talks nonsense everywhere, I can also defend myself by saying that we three peasants are just bragging after drinking. The werewolf bloodline of the comrades is quite special. Eric will not lose his mind like Sinding and Schooner, and we don't have to worry about being exposed.

Eric sighed and began to tell his story. In order to take care of the shocked Lund, he first briefly explained how he discovered the werewolf secret of the Companions, and then recounted how they were ambushed by the Silver Hand Mercenaries while on a mission, and how Ramakos and Kaelin were killed, and Madeline was seriously injured and disabled. These were all things I already knew. After suffering such a big loss, the prophet Krako asked them to swallow their anger. Scoyue was so angry that he had a big quarrel with Krako, and secretly colluded with Ella, intending to take revenge.

When Eric talked to him in Sco Yue, he had already guessed that they would make some noise. He originally met the two people with the mentality of persuading them, but Ella simply appeared in the form of a werewolf and half-forced Eric to drink a mouthful of wolf blood. According to Eric's description, the feeling of transforming into a werewolf was very wonderful. His heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and his senses became extremely sharp. The low buzzing of mosquitoes became noisy and chaotic, and the sensitive rabbits were as slow as worms. At that moment, he felt that he could do anything! The sudden excitement prompted him to follow the two predecessors and run fast in the vast wilderness of the Snowman Territory. The giant claws tore the body of the goat, the sharp teeth cut the neck of the wild deer, and the rich smell of blood spread, like a tide beating on his nerves. The three giant wolves howled at the moon, expressing endless pride and endless pleasure.

Lund had been chewing on the bottle of wine in his hand for a long time before he realized that what he was holding in his other hand was actually the rabbit leg. I also looked at Eric with a worried look on my face. The feelings this guy described sounded more like the reaction after taking drugs to me. Some drugs in the previous life, such as heroin or methamphetamine, can have a strong excitatory effect on the human central nervous system, causing the user to be emotionally agitated, irritable, hyperactive, and have hypersexuality. In the past, after using these drugs, the Nazis and the Fourth Roman soldiers could go without food or sleep, and continuously perform combat missions like Superman. Heroin is the transliteration of the German word for "hero", and one of the characteristics of werewolves is that they cannot fall asleep!

However, drug use may be enjoyable, but it can have terrible effects on the human body. After withdrawal, drug users will still feel nausea and vomiting, anorexia, anxiety, mental depression, and inability to concentrate, like a walking corpse. Because the immune system is damaged, it is very easy to get various infectious diseases, such as hepatitis, AIDS, etc. In addition, the nervous system and circulatory system will also suffer irreversible damage. Drug users will experience hallucinations, palpitations, mental abnormalities and other symptoms. Many people have lost their lives because of these.

If Hircine's werewolf blood is the drug I'm thinking it is...

I dare not make a hasty judgment. Similar symptoms do not mean the same nature. Krako, the prophet of the Companions, is also a werewolf, but he and Scoyue, who participated in the World War, are both over fifty years old and in good health, not sickly like drug addicts. But I seem to finally understand him a little. This old man asserts that wolf blood is a curse, claiming that it "not only affects the body, but also harms the soul." He may be the one who is closer to the truth. My previous judgment of his "saintly heart" may be biased.

"Eric, do you feel uncomfortable now, or have a bad temper, or don't like everything after not being a werewolf for a while?"

Eric blinked.

"I feel uncomfortable when I can't see Angie now, but everything goes away when I see her."

This dog food... caught me off guard...

Lund choked on the rabbit leg, and I was so angry that I rolled my eyes.

"You guys were too reckless this time. I advise you to have a good talk with Krako after you return to Yuevaska."

"Don't worry. I'll go hunt white deer with Angie first. When I come back, the old man might have calmed down."

But when he talked about Angie, his eyes darkened. It was obvious that he hadn't figured out how to explain his wolf blood to her. But that's exactly why I asked him to go to Krako. The old man has been researching a cure, but I'm not sure if he has found any results yet. Fortunately, there's no need to rush this matter. Eric just needs to be careful and not reveal his true colors.

We talked about the Companions, and by the way, we talked about the Silver Hand Mercenaries. The funny thing is that Eric has fought the Silver Hand three times, but he doesn't know more about it than Lund and I. The three of us got together and muttered for a long time, and we only knew that the other party must be a new organization that emerged in recent years, and it was very rich.

"Two weapons for each person, one silver and one ordinary? My goodness, where do they get so much money?"

As my butler, Lund naturally knows the current prices. A decent set of armor and weapons costs more than a thousand Septim, which is basically the entire income of an ordinary family for two or three years. Even if it is cheaper leather armor, it costs about three hundred Septim. As for silver weapons, it is not a question of price, but where the raw materials come from. Using precious metals to make a long sword, what kind of genius brainwave did this have?

The Hanged Rock Fortress that Eric and his men raided had more than 20 people in it. If everyone had this configuration, it would cost at least 50,000 Septim, which is close to the annual income of a baron. But this is just one of the Silver Hand's branches. How many branches do they have? How many people are there? All of this is unknown. If they have a base in each territory, they can definitely be called rich enough to rival a country.

If such a rich group of people bought land and property, they would probably have no worries about food and drink for several generations. But they actually started to work as mercenaries? And they even challenged the strongest mercenary group in Skyrim? You have to know that the Companions are said to have a history of thousands of years, and their power is intertwined and spread across the nine territories of Skyrim. They are deeply rooted and flourishing. Even Lord Balgruuf is reluctant to touch them. How can the Silver Hand dare to challenge such a behemoth?

"I think it's impossible for the Silver Hands to save so much money in just a few years. It's also unlikely that they would be so eager to provoke the Companions after working so hard to make a fortune. So it's very likely that they have a powerful backer. Eric, go back and find out what forces the Companions have offended. Rocker, you can also use your connections to check."

"A force that the Companions have offended?"

Eric held his head and stared at the empty bottle on the table.

That's too many. The early Companions were a military organization, and their main enemies were the Snow Elves and the Reachmen of Skyrim. But after they transformed into a mercenary group, they accepted all kinds of commissions. As long as they were dealing with people, how could everyone be happy? Even a robber who robbed and looted had relatives and friends. If you wiped him out, how could his family and friends not hate you? With this calculation, I'm afraid the Companions had as many friends as enemies. Who can tell?

Fortunately, Lund narrowed down the scope for him.

"Forget about those petty rioters. You have to be at least at the level of a lord, or a big family, like Zhan Kuang."

The Gray Mane family has a close relationship with Moonvaska. If the War Mad family secretly supports Silver Hand to fight against the War Comrades in order to fight against its competitors, it is not impossible. However, the two families have always had a competitive and cooperative relationship. If they just stood up to steal business, everything would be easy to discuss. Now that someone has died, there is no way to end it peacefully. I don't think Offred is the kind of person who acts recklessly. Either Silver Hand has no relationship with the War Mad family, or he has lost control of his men.

There is too little information to analyze, so I can only hope that Eddie and Eric can gather useful information. This time, Helgi and I are going on a long journey, and we will pass by the Hall of the Vigilant. Perhaps I can learn more about Silver Hand from Cassidy.

In fact, I have another guess, that is Lord Balgruuf. The headquarters of the Companions is in Whiterun, but they do not obey the orders of the Lord. If I were the Lord of Whiterun, I would not allow a powerful armed force to get out of control under my rule. What is particularly suspicious is that Balgruuf, who owns the trade capital of Skyrim, is extremely tight on finances. Could it be that he has spent all his money on supporting the silver hands? This idea turned around in my mind, but I didn't say it out loud. I'm not drunk yet, and there is a Lydia outside the door who may be eavesdropping. How can I question the lord who just made me a baron without any evidence?

We drank until late, and since hunting the white deer was related to the mission of the demon god Hircine, I decided to wait for Angie to get the result before setting off. For the next two days, I discussed the affairs of the territory with Lund. This dilapidated small fortress was not my ideal base. It was small in scale and located in the jungle of the valley. The transportation was not very convenient, and there was no stable water source nearby. In addition, it had been abandoned for an unknown period of time, and there were holes everywhere. Several rooms were uninhabitable due to air leakage.

But this is my territory after all, so I still need to manage it well. Danger and my father did not increase the order of stone due to lack of funds. I discussed with Lund that while the captives have not been redeemed, we should send more people to repair the Blood Throne. It doesn't need to be impregnable, but at least it should be habitable. In addition, we need to repair the roads leading to Falkreath City and Helgen Town better, preferably so that they can be used by carriages, to prepare for the future transportation of large quantities of stone and minerals.

Lund has sent people to investigate. The Pale Secret Passage in the south has been blocked by an avalanche on Mount Jerrol. At least it is no longer accessible from our direction. This way, we don't have to worry about the Imperials attacking from both north and south for the time being, but we still have to find out about the movements of Bruma City. Avalanches can't happen every year, so this road is unlikely to be blocked all the time. We have to be prepared before the road is cleared again.

The Tiger Man's Inn will definitely continue to recruit more people. If I take Hayou away, I have to prevent new people from causing trouble. Fortunately, the original four cats have been bribed by my piglet stewed with mushrooms, and they are now very well-behaved. I boldly let them eat the blood crown. This deep red mushroom is not as scary as it looks. At least the two cats who are the test subjects showed no signs of poisoning. It tastes more like shiitake mushrooms and has a strong flavor, so I have one more ingredient.

The problem we are facing now is that the mushrooms we planted are growing very poorly. In my previous life, I was just a cook. I had no problem making food into dishes, and I was also able to distinguish the quality of food, but the knowledge of breeding was beyond my scope. The point is that I am not well prepared for the time travel, otherwise I would have to memorize the "Friends of Military and Civilian Dual-use Talents" by heart. I guess the growth of mushrooms may be related to the four elements of temperature, water, nutrients, and sunlight, but the specific conditions are unclear, so I can only leave it to a few tiger people to explore. These cats worked very hard to satisfy their cravings. Some were responsible for field observations, and some went into the library to find information, and they were very busy.

Among Baron Montoya's collection of books, there were many fragments that were damaged by fire and water, and Lund bought them as waste paper. Recently, Helgi and Lucia have been sorting out the relatively intact pages according to the content when they are free, trying to restore some books. The tigers and I also joined this group, but after two days, we didn't find a single page of the content we wanted to search for about mushroom cultivation.

That evening, Lucia was recording the data that Lund had brought back, while Helgi and I were sorting through the remaining books. The door to the library banged, and Eric came in.

"Locke, hurry! Pack up! Angie found the white deer!"