The City of Marronligar

In some special periods, important ceremonies such as funerals are inevitably affected by the environment.For example, when the plague came, the increase in the number of the dead and the particularity of the death forced the church to adapt to the situation and set up another cemetery in a deserted place on the outskirts of the city to bury the plague-stricken dead separately.At the unified funeral, the eulogy and prayers delivered by the pastor will also be different from usual.

The same is true of the plague epidemic I witnessed.The stonemasons in Marenliga were extraordinarily busy at that time because they had to rush to make the tombstones.After the shadow of the plague completely disappeared from Marenlica, the surviving citizens dared to go out of the city gate, bring simple sacrifices, and go to pay homage to their dead relatives.

——Miscellaneous Notes of Silver Bay Tower·Life and Death Rituals

Louis drove the carriage out of the city gate.

As Liz said, the guards guarding the gates of the city have indeed stepped up. Although it is not possible to register every pedestrian and search every piece of luggage, for those young women who travel alone and are not "ordinary citizens", They would always take a second look and ask a few questions at the same time, as if they were looking for someone.

Combining the previous situation, Louis guessed that what they were looking for was probably Liz who hid herself in an empty wine barrel and planned to sneak out of the city.

As for why Liz did this, Louis believes that the answer will be found soon.At least one thing, he can confirm with life experience and intuition: Liz is pure in nature and well educated.She had done nothing bad, nor was she going to do it.

It was not until the city gate was left far behind, and the slanting sun cast a long shadow under the abandoned watchtower, that Louis stopped the carriage, went around to the flatbed cart connected to the horse harness, and put the lid of one of the empty wine barrels Pry open.

"There is no one around here now, you can come out." He knocked on the new wine barrel that hadn't been filled yet.

Liz grabbed the edge of the wine barrel and got out of it with difficulty: "I'm really suffocating..." She jumped out of the barrel, frantically patting the sawdust off her body.

A day ago, she made up the name of a winery, claiming to be the daughter of the owner of the winery, bought a few new wine barrels from the cooperage workshop, and threw them on the rented carriage.

At this moment, Liz was very glad that she bought a new barrel instead of an old barrel that had been filled with wine, otherwise she would have passed out drunk in it.

Although Louis made a few vents in inconspicuous places such as wood cracks, it was really uncomfortable to be curled up in the dark all the time, and she definitely didn't want to experience it a second time.

Louis crossed his arms, watched Liz straighten her hair and put on her hat, and then asked, "Where are we going next? It's getting dark, and I have to pay a higher price for night missions." The random words made Louis feel happy physically and mentally.

Liz muttered in a low voice: "Why do you have to increase the price, why do you make so much money?"

"Run on the street and play around."

"..."

"I'm not joking with you. Girl, although the city of Marunliga is in good order, it may not be the case outside the city. We are close to the village, and our safety can be guaranteed. If we go further outside, Even the guards are out of reach. If you really want to meet gangsters or even the Lightless, it will not be fun." Louis advised.

Liz bit her lip, and said with difficulty: "It's okay, I'll add money."

Louis felt powerless: "That's not what I meant... well, well."

Now that the two of them have already left the city, he can only be the bodyguard to the end.

At this time, Liz suddenly asked him: "Do you know about the plague 14 years ago?"

"of course."

Louis was also in his early 20s at the time, just beginning his career as a bounty hunter.In addition to directly causing death, the plague has also brought unprecedented panic to people. The rapidly spreading doomsday belief and the newborn lightless people concocted by despair can be regarded as secondary disasters of the plague.Coincidentally—or rather unluckily, Louis also had colleagues who died in that plague.

"There is a cemetery outside the city of Marunliga, and the burials are all the victims of the plague at that time. Do you know the location of the cemetery?" Liz lowered her head, and her expression became different from before. "I want to go there first."

Louis observed Liz's expression, and answered "Yes" succinctly.

On the way to the cemetery, Liz sat with the empty wine barrel, with her hands on her knees, quietly watching the two shallow ruts left by the wheels on the compacted dirt road.Louis was riding on the horse, deliberately controlling the speed of the horse so as not to make Liz feel too bumpy.

At dusk, the outskirts of Marenliga are quiet and peaceful, and there is only the erratic wind in the yellowing wilderness.The orange-red sky was gradually swallowed up by the mountains, and the indigo sky covered the whole field.

"My parents are buried in that cemetery."

Liz's voice was so low that Louis almost didn't hear it.

"I was less than three years old at that time, and they were just two vague shadows in my memory. I don't remember their appearance, voice, and movements. Many things were told to me by my grandfather. But sometimes, I would dream I saw a fragment of my life with them. Not in Marunliga, but in a villa outside the city. I can no longer tell if it is a memory from before I was three years old, or a picture that my grandfather drew in my mind. The dream The sun illuminated everything very vaguely, as if the night had never come. There were grape trellises covered with vines and leaves, a rocking wooden horse, and someone sang a lullaby in my ear, singing very gently."

Louis listened silently to Liz's narration, allowing her to search for her shadow in the old dreams.It wasn't until the carriage approached the low outer wall of the cemetery that he whispered, "We've arrived."

For the past 14 years, the order has cleaned the cemetery once in spring and fall.Remove the flooded weeds, lift up the fallen tombstones, and place simple sacrifices for the lonely dead who have no one to worship.So this cemetery has not been consumed by relentless oblivion.

Even though she was in a cemetery far away from the hustle and bustle, there was no one around except Louis, and there were many resting places for the dead in front of her, not to mention that it was already dark, but Liz didn't feel any fear at all, on the contrary she seemed extremely calm.

The last time I followed my grandfather to the cemetery was five or six years ago.Grandpa was not in good health, and he was habitually overprotective of Liz, so she never came here again.Holding the torch Louis made for her, Liz walked through the standing tombstones, looking for two familiar and unfamiliar names.

She soon found the tombstones belonging to her parents—they died of the plague almost at the same time, and were buried together in the same tomb, with their two names engraved on the same stele.

Liz stood quietly in front of the monument, opened and closed her lips a few times, but did not make a sound.After a moment of silence, she took out a set of beautifully crafted inlaid jewelry from her bosom, and carefully placed them on the old eucalyptus, like a precious offering.

Grandpa once said that her beautiful mother loved these ornaments from the north.Liz tried to imagine her mother wearing them, but the picture in her mind lacked a clear face.

And Louis noticed the last name of the deceased on the tombstone: "You are the granddaughter of the director of the Silver Bay Tower Library." He thus confirmed Liz's identity.

This explains why young girls are so familiar with the Codex.

Liz finally nodded, and no longer concealed the purpose of her trip: "I ran out of the city without telling everyone, in order to retrieve some important things for my grandfather and Silver Bay Tower."

"You finally confessed." Louis breathed a sigh of relief. "It's pretty good—with my own will, with a clear purpose, I even planned to sneak out of the city by hiding in a wine barrel, but it's quite boring in there."

"As long as I can get the most important relic of my parents, this grievance is nothing."

Liz calmed down, and seemed to have regained her childish arrogance before.

"I have a map in my hand, and there is a special mark on it, pointing to an old house. Before the plague spread to Marenlica, our family lived there. I won't talk about it later, anyway, I once in 14 years I haven’t been back, and I don’t remember what it looks like. I heard from my grandfather that my parents’ manuscripts might still be there, so I came here to look for it.”

Louis took the map in Liz's hand, looked at it and said, "You can discuss it with the curator, hire a group of bodyguards like me, and choose a bright day to come here. And why now? You just learned about About the manuscript?"

She replied softly: "The Silver Bay Pagoda is sorting out a batch of folk historical materials. You laymen may not understand it, but for us, folk songs and legends have no less weight than official history. 'They are the epics of the people', grandfather Chang That said, and my parents were the ones who studied these epics. After they died, the manuscripts probably stayed in the old house. No one dared to go out of the city to bring the relics back at the risk of disease."

Liz lowered her head, pressed a few small stones into the soil with the toe of her boot, and continued: "Recently, we happened to be dealing with materials from the plague period, and my grandfather was very sentimental because of this. He obviously wanted to see my parents leave text, but I was not allowed to look for it everywhere, and I was not even allowed to go out of the city alone, making it look like there are wild beasts outside."

"It's not incomprehensible. It's too remote there, and the curator is worried about your safety." Louis noted down the location of the old house, returned the map to Liz, and signaled her to follow him back to the carriage. "Besides finding those manuscripts for Silver Bay Tower, you have other things to do."

Liz nodded honestly: "I want to see what the previous home was like."

It's like walking into a dream that has haunted her for more than ten years in a waking state, and it's like waking up from an old dream.This is something her grandfather failed to do.If the curator did hire her a team of bodyguards, Liz worried that their presence would prevent her from resonating quietly with the memory.

She just wants to go back to the place where she used to live with her parents alone.

——Things are so complicated, but her real wish is so simple.

Louis rode on the horse and reminded Liz to watch the torch, so that it would not be blown out by the cold night wind.

"It's a good thing you hired me." He smiled. "Don't worry, I'll get you home safely."

Time goes back to Malenliga before sunset.

After asking a group of vendors, Adrian finally found a clue in the cooper workshop in the harbor area.

"A young girl of sixteen or seventeen? She's different from ordinary customers? I've seen it just yesterday. She's dressed like a young man on the pier, but her face is clean. You can tell she hasn't done hard work." The talkative cooper stopped what he was doing.

Another craftsman said: "She bought three new wine barrels from us, and asked me where I could rent a carriage. I said that the newly made new barrels hadn't even been cleaned of wood chips, but the girl seemed to be in a hurry to use them. Take it away immediately, which amused me. The boss didn't really want to sell it at first, after all, she still has a few orders on hand, but she gave too much."

He should be talking about Liz—Adrian thought to himself.Asking where the carriage was rented, the cooper immediately pointed to another shop not far away.

Adrian breathed a sigh of relief: as long as a breakthrough is found, the rest will basically follow suit.

When crossing the cobblestone-paved main road and walking towards the carriage rental shop on the other side of the street, Adrian happened to catch a glimpse of a few young men with bruised noses and rough faces standing in the alley, who were still cursing and using rich rhetoric Curse which man.Adrian only glanced at them, then turned his head and forgot that this was probably a common scene in the harbor area.

The carriage shop owner's statement was basically the same as that of the cooper's craftsman: the girl who came to rent the car suddenly claimed to be from a certain winery, and paid a rent that was [-]% higher than the market price.

"Does your carriage have any recognizable markings?" Adrian asked.

"Our shop's logo is painted on the saddle and cart, just like the one at the door," the boss pointed to the signboard hanging by the door with a proud face. "A red unicorn with hooves raised, and a wheel under its feet. How about it, doesn't this mark look good?"

Adrian complimented him politely: "It's very beautiful."

Renting a car and buying barrels is the day before.If Liz wasn't planning to stay long, she'd probably be out of town already.Adrian rushed to the city gate non-stop, and expressed his purpose to the guards.

"A carriage with a few wine barrels and a unicorn logo? It seems that one passed by not long ago," replied the young guard holding a gun. "But the driver is not the girl you mentioned, but a man in his 30s."

The guard who was on duty with him laughed and said, "You don't even know the driver! That's Louis Cormac, the honorary president of the Bounty Hunters Association."

—Master Cormac?What does this have to do with him?

Adrian asked quickly, "Is he the only one in the car?"

"Yeah, go northwest when you leave the city." The guard pointed Adrian in the direction.

There is no time to think about the connection between the disappearance of Louis and Liz, so we must hurry up now.Adrian thanked several guards, walked out of the city gate, and went straight to the stable not far away.

The person in charge of the stable was a middle-aged peasant woman. Seeing that it was getting late, she was about to go back to the hut for the night, but saw a young man dressed as an aristocrat running towards her.

Adrian got straight to the point: "I want to rent a horse."

He took out a dozen Kirills and stuffed them directly into the hands of the peasant woman. He chose a light black and white horse, put on the saddle that the peasant woman gave him, turned on the horse, and galloped towards the direction pointed by the guard.

The evening wind grabs Adrian's cuff, and the winter night without fireflies is as silent as a frozen painting.

The outskirts of the city after sunset are no safer than the inner city, and Adrian knows this.But Torresso's blood has brought convenience to Adrian's night travel: the night in the eyes of outsiders has become a ball, but Adrian can still barely see the outline of the road; Be aware.

After riding along the road leading to the northwest wilderness for a while, a light suddenly appeared in Adrian's vision.

That's a moving torch.

Adrian hurried to catch up.

It is not difficult for a fast horse to catch up with the carriage pulling the goods. Adrian quickly saw the girl with a vigilant look holding a torch next to the wine barrel (he thought it should be Liz), just looking at Louis In the interlaced moments, Adrian still fell into the embarrassing situation of being speechless for a while.

"……Grandmaster?"

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