The latest website: The gunshots came from directly above the hotel, and judging from the clarity of the sound, the source was not the nearest second floor, but more like the furthest fourth floor.
"Oh, **** it!"
The captain cursed softly, packed up his cards and apologized to Shad, then walked to the counter on the first floor with Lieutenant Hoyle, obviously wanting to go upstairs with the hotel manager to check the situation. Before the local police arrived, they, wearing the uniforms of De La Rion officers, needed to maintain the scene and check whether there were any wounded that could be rescued.
The guests on the first floor paid their bills silently and left from the door, for fear of being involved in troublesome matters. And Shad neither went upstairs with the two officers nor left with the majority.
He stood up and ordered two glasses of low-alcohol cider from the waiter who replaced the bearded store manager. Then, holding the glasses, he sat opposite the bard in the corner, and pushed one of the drinks to him.
Although the kingdom forbids the brewing of moonshine, small-scale brewing of fruit wine like this in a large hotel is allowed. These two glasses of cider are brewed from the first season of apples harvested in Mount Xical this summer. Although they are not as good as the cider from the big winery, they are at least cheap.
There was a shooting upstairs, and the bard couldn't continue his performance. But leaving here means that no other income can be obtained today, so the poet huddled in a corner and waited. Seeing that Xia De sat across from him, and even gave him a glass of wine, the poet also recognized Xia De as the one who threw the two one-shilling silver coins just now:
"Thanks."
He said cautiously, not knowing what the young man in front of him wanted to do.
"You know many of the ancient legends of Midhill Castle and the West Carr Mountains?"
Shad asked.
"Yes."
The poet nodded cautiously.
"Since you can't perform now, why don't you tell me these stories. I can pay for your drinks this afternoon."
Although Xia De didn't say to use cash to thank the other party, but in this afternoon when it was obviously impossible to do business, it would be nice to have someone buy a drink for free.
"No problem, you want to know something..."
Boom!
Suddenly there was another gunshot upstairs. Although it was two floors away, Xia De could hear it different from the gunshot just now.
The poet was taken aback, but Xia De didn't care much. Even if the ring warlock wanted to use a gun to kill someone, he would use a silence spell or something to silence the gunshot, so the matter upstairs must have nothing to do with the ring warlock.
"I want to know how many local beliefs there are, that is, the secret religion that is only spread in Midhill Castle."
Xia De has learned similar information from the information given by the spiritual practice group, but he still wants to ask again from the perspective of ordinary people.
"The local esoteric sects...I don't know as many as the Orthodox Church, but there are quite a few of them that are circulated privately."
Seeing that Xia De was not afraid of the gunshots, the poet became bolder:
"There are no local legends about evil gods."
When he mentioned "Cthulhu", he shrank subconsciously, and looked at the stairs leading to the second floor. A small number of guests who did not leave sat in their original seats, and the rest gathered at the stairs to watch the excitement.
"But there are some special beliefs. The legendary old gods [Twin Gods] are said to have stayed in this area, so local residents generally believe that twins have special spirituality."
"There are also such sayings in other places."
Xia De nodded, but the sect of the [Twin Gods] had long been shattered, and the [Spiritual Practice Sect] took root here, clearly recording the disappearance of the old sect, so there is no need to worry.
He and the poet talked a few words about the special topic of "twins", and then extended to some local customs. During the period, two police officers who were patrolling nearby came in a hurry, one ran up the stairs under the guidance of the troublemaker, and the other blew his whistle to find help.
Two streets away is the train station in Fort Midhill. Not only are there many policemen nearby, but there is even a full infantry company. Of course, the current situation does not need the help of the garrison.
"In addition to the old gods, there are some special beliefs in the local area."
The poet took a sip of his cider, then pointed in the direction of Mount Sikar:
"In addition, there is a very traditional worship of mountains in the local area."
"I can understand that it is natural to rely on mountains to eat mountains, and then to worship Mount Xikale that nurtures this city."
Xia De nodded, and the poet understood Xia De's blunt translation of "relying on mountains and eating mountains" for a while before he understood:
"Yes, before Fort Midhill became the front line between the two countries, it was a very small town. There was no steam industry at that time, and people lived by hunting for the local lords and serving the orchard, so the formation of This kind of localized belief. But with the advent of the steam age, this original belief itself has gradually disappeared, and now it can only be seen from the books of some folklorists."
The extinct primitive nature worship mentioned by the bard is not mentioned in the materials of the spiritual order, and the order probably believes that this kind of history is meaningless.
Xia De suddenly asked, the poet took a sip of cider and nodded:
"Of course, since extinct volcanoes are mentioned, another traditional natural belief must be mentioned. In fact, there is a local tradition of worshiping fire."
"Worship fire?"
A sheriff with stars on his shoulders, leading two senior police officers and a group of ordinary police officers, hurried in from the hotel door, and there were two doctors carrying medicine boxes in the middle. Leaving two police officers on guard on the first floor, the others rushed up the stairs. But after the second gunshot, there was no gunshot for a long time, and it seemed that the matter was over.
"This tradition of worshiping fire is nature worship, or is it said that a great person with the power of flames once appeared here?"
Xia De asked curiously, beckoning to the waiter, and asked the bard who had already drunk the cider to order some more drinks at will. While the poet was talking to the waiter, Xia De also took a sip of the glass of cider in front of him. The taste of alcohol in it was weaker than any wine he had ever tasted, basically equivalent to fruit juice.
And when he saw the fruit wine, he somehow remembered yesterday's dinner again.
"The tradition of worshiping fire in Midhill Castle is also quite old. Although there are no large-scale sacrificial activities in the contemporary era dominated by the Church of the Five Gods, we can know from those traditional stories that the local people of Middlehill Castle It is a unique festival, and the fire worship festival in autumn originated from this."
Xia De has also heard of local special festivals, but the modern mainstream view is that they are praying for the dryness of the autumn to prevent forest fires. After all, autumn is the most important season for logging, hunting and fruit and vegetable picking.
He pondered and asked the poet about these things, but he wanted to try to see if he could get divinity in Midhill Castle like he did in Coldwater Harbor. But obviously, the religious situation in this inland city is more complicated than he thought.
"Moreover, there is a saying that this natural worship of flames that has been passed down since ancient times has been absorbed by the Church of Nature."
The poet lowered his voice, knowing that such words should not be heard by a third person:
"However, if you want to know these things, you can ask the owner of this hotel, Mr. Thales. Although he is a believer in the God of Nature [Lord of All Things], he worships flames very much."
"clear."
Shad nodded.
At this time, footsteps came from the stairs again. It was the innkeeper who was frowning, followed by a police officer with a gun, and came to the first floor to get the ledger.
"It seems that someone is really dead."
The poet who has known the bearded boss for many years shook his head:
"If someone dies in the hotel, it will affect the business very much."
The waiter brought a new glass of wine for the poet. He probably still expected to perform normally in the evening, so he just ordered a glass of ale with low alcohol content.
Shad paid for the second drink:
"Gemini worship, mountain worship, fire worship, this place is really interesting, and may provide more inspiration for my new book."
He said that on purpose.
"Are you a writer?"
The poet asked curiously, Xia De nodded:
"Unknown writer, do you know the "Hamilton Detective Stories Collection" serialized in the "Steam Bird Daily"? I want to follow this detective and write a new book, and I am currently collecting materials."
"Of course I know, this can almost be called the most popular story in De La Rion this autumn. "Steambird Daily" is only published around Tobesk and the central and western parts of the kingdom, but because of this serialized story, even if It's the Fort Midhill area, and now you can find places selling back issues of the Steambird Daily."
When it comes to detective stories, The Bard has a lot to talk about:
"I also went to the post office to order a copy of "Steam Bird Daily", unfortunately this is copyrighted, otherwise I really want to adapt the story of detective Hamilton into poetry... It's a coincidence to say it, Big City player The final winner, the Knight of Rejed, is also named Hamilton."
He failed to connect the two successfully~www.mtlnovel.com~ Footsteps came from the stairs again, a senior police officer came down from upstairs, calling the names of the two male waiters on the first floor, and then The audience followed the police upstairs in a panic.
"The taller one was in charge of checking the corridor windows on the fourth floor last night, and complained to Thales about the air leaks in the windows. The other one was in charge of helping the guests on the upper floors carry their luggage."
The poet told Shad that he was very familiar with the situation here.
"This is the beginning of the interrogation session? I don't know if anyone died because of it."
Xia De said in a low voice, and then asked:
"Besides twin worship and fire worship, are there other localized beliefs?"
There doesn't seem to be any belief in evil gods in the local area, or the poet dare not say it, so Xia De can only explore these folk-customized things.
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