The City of Marronligar

If you come to Marenliga in the right season, as long as the weather is not too cold, you can always hear the birdsong in the treetops and overhead.Especially near Yinwan, where there are as many seabirds as there are chickens in the farmer's yard.Fortunately, the nests of these seabirds are not in the city, but in the natural grottoes under the nearby cliffs, otherwise there would be more bird droppings hitting the citizens.

As for domestic birds, in addition to the parrots, canaries and even owls favored by nobles, carrier pigeons are also very common here.They occupy half of the "airspace" in Marenliga, and they have played more practical functions than pets that cannot be ignored.Even if they are not wealthy, some ordinary citizens like to raise a few carrier pigeons, after all, it is much more cost-effective than serving those rare and precious animals.

——Miscellaneous Notes of Silver Bay Tower Pets, Poultry and Beasts

In the early morning, the sun generously sprinkled over every roof in Marenliga.Birdsong and horseshoes urge people to start a new day from the air and the ground respectively, blending into the blood flowing in this commercial city-state.

On the roof of the side building of the Feishi Mansion, Adrian sat on the ground, quietly watching the thin white clouds under the blue sky.Beside him is a tower-shaped open-air pigeon loft. The homing pigeons cooed, or drank the clear water in the container, or hovered freely in the air. A shed feather.

It's past the fixed time for "training with Master Cormac," but Adrian suddenly doesn't want to see Louis.It is better to squat with the carrier pigeons than to be caught off guard and bump into embarrassing and unpleasant topics.At least they will only gather together to "cuckoo" and speak bird language, instead of speaking human language that makes them feel uncomfortable.

—but is it really Master Cormac's fault?It doesn't seem to be possible.If I had to say it, I obviously cared about the identity of that mysterious woman first, and I chose to escape after knowing the truth.

But Adrian didn't understand why he felt this way for the time being.

Adrian fell into a predicament that could not be logically consistent.

However, even if he didn't look for him, Louis probably wouldn't care, maybe he didn't want to bring any students with him.After the training was over and the two separated, when night fell, Mrs. Bella would probably appear at Louis's house again, leaving the old and simple house with a faint smell of perfume.

——Will you be happy if you know the truth, no matter how big or small it is?

Thinking of this, Adrian felt even more panicked.Fortunately, Sophia went out early in the morning to deal with the goods of the Beacon, and Samuel forgot about him when he was busy. No one would ask Adrian what he was thinking.

He sighed, turned his head to look at the pigeons standing on the loft, and the pigeons also tilted their heads to look at him, their small round eyes full of curiosity.The feathers of homing pigeons are smooth and shiny, and they are very lively and full of vigor when they jump.

There is only a door between the roof and the attic, and anyone can use a gun to climb up from the house.Adrian, who was staring at the pigeon loft in a daze, heard the false wooden door being opened upwards, turned his head, and saw a furry head popping out there.

"Darren? Why did you come up here?"

The roof was only surrounded by a low ornamental parapet, and it was too dangerous for such a small child to run around.Adrian stood up quickly so that Darren could trot all the way into his arms.

Probably because he does not seem to be as aggressive as other relatives, the young Darren feels very close to this cousin from Heshan Manor.He grabs Adrian by the sleeve and calls him "Brother Adrian" with a grin.Because it was in the period of changing teeth, Darren was missing a front tooth, and he was a little bit leaky when he spoke.

Adrian looked down at this child of his own generation: he had the same black hair as his mother Sophia, and his eyes probably inherited from his deceased father, which were as clear blue as the sky and the ocean.Seeing how agile he was in climbing and turning over the wooden door, it was probably due to Torresso's bloodline that played a role.

——It is a given that Louis's private life is complicated.So, did he have a family?Is there such a child too?Maybe an illegitimate child?

The question that flashed through his mind startled Adrian.He couldn't help shivering, and decided to shake off the inappropriate thoughts.

"Darren, the roof is too dangerous, let's go down." Adrian took Darren's hand, and began to reflect on whether he had given him a bad head by being in a daze on the roof.

Darren shook his head and pointed to the loft with the other finger: "I want to play with the pigeons."

Adrian reluctantly agreed to him: "Okay, just stand there and don't run around, I'll pick one for you."

Darren nodded obediently, and imitated Adrian's previous posture and sat down, not caring about the dust staining his clean clothes - anyway, his mother would not scold him for such a trivial matter.

This group of homing pigeons is basically not afraid of people, but Adrian still carefully selected them, and finally settled on a small, round and well-behaved pigeon.He handed the carrier pigeon to Darren and reminded him in a low voice, "Just hold it like this, don't force it, and don't scare it."

Darren carefully held the pigeon with both hands, and observed it curiously, imitating a cooing sound in his mouth.The homing pigeon knew that the little master was not malicious, so it stretched out its light-colored beak and pecked Darren's sleeve lightly.Darren looked up at Adrian happily, smiling broadly, and Adrian smiled back at him.

"They are so powerful," Darren said softly, afraid that the noise would scare the pigeons in his hands. "It's so small and eats so little, but it can fly around; but we can't do it anyway."

Adrian squatted down beside Darren, gently stroking the folded wings of the carrier pigeon: "Maybe in the future, human beings can also go to the sky - instead of growing wings like birds, they can fly by other things."

Darren raised his head excitedly: "Really?"

"Uh...probably true." Adrian is not very good at comparing imagination with children. Fortunately, Darren was simply happy and didn't ask further questions.He stood up and patted the bird feathers hanging on his clothes. "We should go down, otherwise the adults will worry about you."

The "dialogue" with the carrier pigeon was very pleasant, and Darren readily agreed to Adrian.He took the carrier pigeon to the loft, watched it dexterously jump back to his companions, and whispered "goodbye" to this bird playmate.

Looking at Darren with shining eyes, Adrian couldn't help recalling how he was when he was a child.Of course, life in Heshan Manor is much duller than that in a big city like Marenlica.

Before leading Darren out of the roof, Adrian looked around again, but inadvertently found a familiar figure: Louis was standing on the opposite side of the road outside the Flying Lions Mansion, leaning against the wall, holding the sniper gun in his hand. Long pipe.

"...Master?" Adrian's heart skipped a beat.

—Did he come to see me?

A few minutes later, Adrian handed Darren to Sophia's personal maid, quickly packed his clothes, picked up the crossbow from the table, and ran outside the Flying Lion Mansion.Louis was still standing there, and when Adrian appeared, he slowly put away his pipe, and waved at him slowly: "I see you haven't come, I thought something happened to Torreso's house."

Just now, he was struggling with what he knew the day before, thinking that Louis would not care about him, but he didn't expect him to come to the door directly, so Adrian inevitably felt uneasy.He avoided Louis' sight, trying to make up an excuse, but was interrupted again by the other party.

"Forget about apologizing or finding a reason, so you will feel more uncomfortable." Louis touched the back of his neck and turned his upper body, showing a rare apology, and from his expression, it could be seen that Louis was not good at apologizing. "Besides, the fault should be mine. What I said yesterday may have been too abrupt, I'm sorry."

Adrian hadn't expected Louis to apologize to him at all.In this way, he didn't know what to say: "No, I don't care..."

Adrian was lying, and Louis knew Adrian was lying, but it was time for this unpleasant little episode to turn.

Louis breathed a sigh of relief: "I hope so."

In this way, he could finally talk to Adrian as "naturally" as in the past few days.He grabbed Adrian's wrist and pulled him towards the central area. "Then don't delay any longer."

"Where are you going?" Adrian asked as he followed Louis' footsteps.

"Something seems to have happened near the temple. People from the religious order have just blocked the entrance to the sewer over there. Go and smell if there is a smell of the Lightless, maybe we can make a fortune."

Due to the dense water network, sitting on the estuary of the river and facing the bay, as early as the beginning of the city's founding, Marenliga built a huge sewer system, and the entrance left when the sewer was dug has been preserved to this day. Most of the iron gates in the city can't be closed anymore-of course, most people are not brave or bored enough to run into the sewers to explore.

In order to cope with the flood season and tide, and to accommodate enough sewage, these underground ditches were built very wide, which can be called magnificent, and can even accommodate several people to pass through like roads.Like a blood vessel, it connects all parts of the city underground, from the city center to the barracks area extending under the city wall, from the aristocratic quarter to the docks. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as the "underground world" of Marenliga.

It is in such a dark, largely untouched underground world that the sewage, moisture, silt, and decay have nourished many creatures that are far more tenacious than humans.Needless to say, cockroaches, mice, bats, etc., the lightless people in the city will also instinctively choose such an environment as their "beautiful home".

When Louis and Adrian arrived near the temple, outside the isolation area blocked by the church police and priests, many onlookers had already gathered.

The temple and its surrounding "religious area" are the territory of the religious order, and are generally not under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Mansion. The small number of religious police take on duties similar to city guards in addition to maintaining the order of the temple.They were dressed in a full set of heavy armor, holding kite-shaped shields and spears. The indigo background of the shields was painted with golden stars, and they were quite majestic just standing in the crowd.

Through the array of police officers maintaining order, the sharp-eyed Adrian saw the situation on the other side from a distance: the red brick slanted doorway was less than one person high, and the brick cracks were covered with black moss.The iron fence that was supposed to seal the passage fell not far away, and there were sharp fracture marks on the hinge of the door, as if it had been torn off by something.Several higher-level teaching police stood in front of the entrance, judging the time of the incident from the traces of the scene.

"The door to the sewer was broken." He whispered to Louis beside him.

Louis raised an eyebrow: "Are you sure it's 'person'?"

Adrian shook his head: "No. Judging from the battle in front of us, the teaching police probably don't think so. Although they haven't smelled blood yet, they are very suspicious of the Lightless."

"From this point of view, the one who destroyed the iron gate is likely to be the 'new' Lightless One. Similar things have happened before." Louis held his chin, and after a short thought, he made a decision for Adrian. "Let's go, let's get a job with the religious group."

Although he habitually obeyed Louis' arrangements, Adrian was still puzzled: "The order has its own armed forces, so will they also hire bounty hunters?" He intentionally avoided all insinuations that "the order looks down on bounty hunters" expression.

Louis said with a smile: "I don't ask them to hire them. I should say this - 'I hope to help the church solve the current problems with the little skills I have learned in the past'."

Adrian felt unbelievable, he felt that ordinary bounty hunters couldn't bear this face: "Do you really want to say that?"

"No, I'm joking." Louis always caught off guard when he retracted his remarks. "The times have changed, and the church will not always be as pedantic as it used to be. At least the people in charge have a clear understanding of the priorities. The church police can deal with people and beasts on the ground, but they have to fight against the lightless in the sewers. Those equipment and tactics There is no advantage, so we can only hold back."

Louis led Adrian through the crowd, towards the cordon formed by the teaching police.Under the heavy helmet, several pairs of soldiers' eyes watched them vigilantly, but Louis had a calm demeanor, obviously used to such occasions.

Their approach also attracted the attention of several senior teaching policemen, one of whom walked straight towards Louis and Adrian.Judging from his attire, he should be the highest-ranking religious leader on the scene.When the man spoke, Adrian immediately recognized that the other was the Inquisitor who was familiar with Samuel, Hagrid Sauron.

"Bounty hunter Louis Cormac," Hagrid's voice was subtly hostile, and his cold gaze slowly moved from Louis to Adrian. "Oh, and Samuel's nephew."

Although he didn't like this name, Adrian didn't speak, but Louis took the initiative to step forward: "Adrian is working with me. Maybe we can provide some advice as 'professionals'." Louis deliberately used the accent Emphasizes Adrian's name.Whether it was out of goodwill or simply wanting to challenge Hagrid, Adrian was grateful for this move.

Hagrid looked at the two more sharply, but he didn't say a word, only uttered a tone of unknown meaning.

Adrian suspected that Hagrid had no intention of remembering his name at all.

Just when Hagrid was thinking about whether to accept Louis's proposal and hire these two "professionals" to deliver to his door, a priest came to him in a hurry with a tense expression on his face: "All priests have already gathered in the temple, only Sha Brother Du didn't come. We went to his house to look for him, but his relatives were not there, and the door was still wide open."

Louis and Adrian exchanged glances—not a good sign.

Hagrid was also well aware of the stakes at hand.He stared at Louis and replied word by word: "I accept your proposal."

Author has something to say: Secunda - Jeremy Soule

The pigeon loft refers to the style in Assassin's Creed 2.The city sewers refer to Vizima and Novigrad from the Witcher series