The Swordsman of Faerûn

Page 243

Then, the gods felt that the goddess who had lost her mind was a little short-sighted, so they said to the goddess together: "My dear! You are too strong, you have to continue to weaken it!"

The goddess, who hadn't noticed the problem, readily agreed, and then... the goddess found that she had lost all authority, and even her name had been taken by a substitute.

And the chief culprit of all this is the super artifact that controls the final outcome of all living beings—the Sail of Destiny.

The Sail of Destiny dominates the world—the course of the giant ship, and the Slate of Fate is not an artifact, but a kind of existence similar to a permit. The god who owns the Slate of Destiny can go to the depths of the Sail of Destiny, of course, the premise is that you You have to be aware of the existence of the sail of destiny, and know where the sail of destiny is.

In fact, except for the hidden one who bears the destiny, no god knows even a little bit of information about the sail of destiny.Just like today's god Io, even the oldest gods (such as Jaeger) only know that Io's supreme status comes from the secret of the Fate Tablet, but they don't know what the Fate Tablet represents.

These secrets represent the end of this world, and naturally they are beyond William's knowledge. The next morning, he doesn't even remember who visited him that night, and naturally he doesn't remember those things that are enough to make the whole world collapse. secret.

If you want to say which area has the most strategic advantage in the Eastern Valley, it is undoubtedly Scar Valley.

Scar Valley is a grand canyon that is run through by the straight Asaba River. On both sides of the canyon are steep cliffs. It is said that this canyon was created by Corellon Larissin (the main god of the elves) and Gewu, the main god of the orcs. It was caused by a sword that was accidentally cut during the battle, so it is also called scar gorge.

This is also the last section where the Asaba River enters the sea. A huge amount of river water washes through the scar gorge, forming a perfect waterway.Whether it is the starting point of this waterway, the best shipping town before Feather Falls, Deep Scar Town, or Scar Valley Town at the mouth of the Asaba River, they all once prospered because of this waterway.

It's just that the failure of King Rashan caused both towns to lose their glory, and they became a feast for those who counterattacked (King Rashan) to divide and seize.

Now Deepscar Town is dilapidated, and even some ambitious people want to build a new hub town at the other end of Feather Falls—Chandler Crossing to replace Deepscar Town's former status.

However, in William's view, the Chandler intersection needs to be established, and the role of Deep Scar Town is also indispensable.Chandler Crossing can connect the upper reaches of the Asaba River, starting from Dagger Valley and Shadow Valley, and connecting Misty Valley, Battle Valley, and Feather Valley along the way into a whole.

When a cargo ship from Shadow Valley goes down the river to deliver goods to the Sea of ​​Fallen Stars, they need to cross the long upper reaches of the Asaba River, land at Chandler Crossing before the only obstacle Feather Falls, and then go to the deep scar behind Feather Falls. The town needs to change to a new ship to move on.

And Deep Scar Town, together with Scar Valley Town at the mouth of the sea, can become an open port connecting the valley with the surrounding countries and regions of Fallen Star Sea.

When William took the heavily armed army to occupy Deepscar Town, the people here did not show much disgust, but rather welcomed William's arrival.

In the eyes of these locals, at least William would not oppress them as cruelly as other Valley people and Sambians around him.

But when William's army came by boat to the town of Scar Valley at the mouth of the Asaba River, the situation became very different.

Scar Valley Town used to be a large town with a population of [-] people. A city of this size is definitely second to none in the valley area. Coupled with the city's unique geographical location (somewhat similar to our Shanghai stock market), it makes it It has become the fat that all ambitious forces covet.

The underground forces in the valley, the religious forces, the Sambians, the Zhentil Forts, the Cyrils, and many other forces in the area have all sent people to the town of Scar Valley, and they are going to be in this unowned geomantic land. Take a share.

Fighting, fighting, conspiracy, calculation, all kinds of conflicts are staged in every corner of the streets and alleys of Scar Valley Town every moment.

When William and his army entered the town, they became the common enemy of all forces that had ideas about Scardale.

Had William been unprepared, he and his men could have been left alone and without help.Fortunately, William still has helpers. The spies from the Harper Alliance provided William with the most detailed local information, allowing him to easily distinguish who is the enemy and who is the ally that can be united temporarily.

For the enemy, William naturally did not hesitate to attack and wipe them out. The Silver Crows of the Sambians was the first unlucky group. This team with the official background of Sambia was strangled and wiped out by William's soldiers. , Juzi couldn't believe that these newcomers from the Valley dared to lay hands on them.

The leader of the Silver Crows, Miklos Selkirk, even clamored that if William refused to make an apology, Sembia's army would definitely wipe out these valley people.

For this kind of idiot who is not clear enough, William had no choice but to send him to Jaeger's country to blow the cold wind to sober up.

The red-robed mages from Serre were the second batch of unlucky guys. These guys blatantly plundered the locals as slaves and tried to send them to other regions for sale. Naturally, William would not tolerate these evil merchant groups under the banner of trade. Affection.

The resistance of the red-robed mage of Cyril, who was temporarily unable to use magic, was weak and powerless. William's soldiers did not even take much effort to arrest these Cyril people easily, and harvested a lot of wealth and goods from the Cyril area.

Originally, William's third target was the people of Zhentil Castle. Their notoriety is the loudest in Scar Valley, and their behavior is also the most arrogant.

These villains from the north are doing all kinds of evil. Kidnapping, extortion, and murder are almost the most common things that Zhentilberg people do. It's just that when a fish that slipped through the net on the battlefield of Shadow Valley saw William's figure , but immediately fled the local area with his men.

Fuzuol Cherbury knew very well how terrifying it was for a strong human being who could compete with the incarnation of the gods (sages). He didn't think those villains under him could stand against William, let alone the other party had an army .

After the above three forces withdrew from Scar Valley Town, the remaining foreign forces basically couldn't make any troubles.

But the really hard to deal with are the villainous organizations formed by some locals, such as the Army of the Dead, the Dancers Association, the Sewer Alliance and so on.

The Subjugated Army is a group of local routs who were once loyal to King Lashan. They have some combat effectiveness, but they are not very popular. At the same time, they are suppressed by other forces and organizations. It can be said that they are very bad As you wish.

This is also the only organization that William can cooperate with with confidence. As for the remaining gangster groups such as the Dancer's Club and the Sewer Alliance, William is not willing to pay them a single glance.

By the way, when the members of the Army of the Subjugated Kingdom saw William's young apprentice, Selur, they directly offered their loyalty to William and presented a will from King Lashan.

It turned out that Seluer was actually the only illegitimate daughter of King Lashan, and also the legal heir appointed by King Lashan before his death.This is outrageous. It is hard for William to believe that he will encounter such a bloody thing. He actually took in a princess.

In fact, William didn't know that in the timeline of Faerun without him, Cyrul and her mother should have been sold as slaves to Zhentil Castle, and the army of conquered nations in Scar Valley would also be destroyed in scattered In the hands of the people of Tilburg, the wills they kept fell into the hands of the Anji family of the Zhentarim.

After that, Selur was specially taken in by the nobles of Anji, and became a trump card for the Anji family to control Zhentil Castle and Scar Valley.

The appearance of William changed the trajectory of Cyrule's life. Obviously, she could no longer be the enemy of kindness that everyone feared.

With William's permission, the members of the Army of the Dead became temporary administrators of Scar Valley, and many loyal soldiers were promoted and rewarded. This made the desperately devastated team support William's rule by almost 12 points. right.

Just when William was about to start construction in Scar Valley with peace of mind, the sage Uthgar, who regarded William as his thigh, brought news that there was a tablet of fate in Tanris on the opposite side of the bay.

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Few humans can resist the temptation to become a god, especially for those who worship gods and powers excessively, but have only a half-knowledge of the nature of gods.

If becoming a god is really so good, not to mention the many ancient great arcanists who know the secrets of the gods far beyond everyone, the seven magic sisters who have the advantage of being close to the water, and the voters of other magic goddesses, just a single thought can become a god. Why didn't Elminster, the old mage of the new Lord of Mysteries, choose to become a god? !

You know, as long as the old mage nods, he will immediately be promoted to the Goddess of Magic, and he may even overtake the mage god Azus and become the number one goddess.

William's understanding of gods has surpassed most people in Faerun. At least he understands a truth that is absurd in the eyes of most normal humans. Becoming a god is not such a beautiful thing.

Uthgard, as a saint who climbed from a mortal to a demigod, but fell into the mortal world for some reason, is a human being whose desire for the rank of god is far beyond normal.

Uthgar knew that if he could find the Tablet of Fate and hand it over to the God of God, then it would be possible for him to break through the limitation of personality and achieve a more powerful level of divine power, even if he had once suffered from someone who was unspeakable. Perhaps there is no need to worry about the existence of a knife.

It's a pity that Uthgar is not a sharp-tongued lobbyist who is good at inducing people with beautiful words. His dry words can't shake William's intention to be a harmless bystander in the battle of the saints.

Just as William Ann was sitting in the town of Scar Valley, gradually sorting out the town's management organization, more information came from the other side of the bay, such as a powerful saint who was sitting in Tanris on the other side of the bay. A gigantic angel with the face of a man who guards the city and the Tablet of Fate that may be hidden within it.

Some groups and individuals who have ideas about the war of the gods or the Tablet of Fate are gathering in Tanris.

William had even heard from sailors new to Scardale about the old mage Elminster, who was said to have appeared in Tanris.

You asked why William could hear the conversations of the sailors. It’s very simple. Now he is sitting in a tavern called Arrowfish in the port area of ​​Scar Valley Town, seemingly leisurely tasting good food and wine.

To be honest, the cooking level in most areas of Faerun is almost non-existent. It is basically the same level as the cuisine of a rotten country in William’s previous life. praiseworthy.

For example, the Arrowhead Fish Tavern provides a shellfish called Barnabas oyster, which is a mollusk mainly produced in the Fallen Star Sea. .

And the Barnabas oyster soup stewed with the elf red wine from Cormanthor is a high-quality seafood soup that is fresh enough to make people cry.

This is a delicacy not to be missed by any passer-by who comes to Scar Valley, and William is no exception.So he took his family to the tavern in the port area, which is known as the most authentic oyster soup. Sure enough, the three little girls were full of praise for the oyster soup here. A rare happy smile appeared.

There is just one thing, William's family are all foodies with amazing appetites, even a few little girls can eat several catties of meat in one meal, let alone William and Phinya, a couple of the level of a bucket, only rely on oysters How can the soup be full of soup and water?

But this does not bother William, the oyster soup is fresh enough, and the brisket part of the beef is the most suitable for stewing, William thinks that the combination of these two should be very interesting, the aroma of beef and the freshness of oysters, I think Just thinking about it makes your mouth water.

It's a pity that the cook of the Arrowhead Fish Tavern is not a creative gourmet with enough imagination. Her oyster soup beef stew tastes a bit unsatisfactory, and it is not up to the standard that William expected.

However, several foodies in William's family still had a great time eating, and even other guests in the tavern showed enough interest in this new delicacy.

To be honest, with the combination of William's family, dining in a tavern where noisy sailors gather can easily cause some unnecessary disputes and troubles.

The reason is that the three little girls of William's family are too attractive, and Finia's appearance is a bit too beautiful now. Even if she is half a body taller than normal people, it is difficult to get rid of those rude people who drink too much. The greedy stares of the guys.

William's soldiers have cleaned up many evil organizations and groups in the city, but there are still many desperate guys trying to do some annoying things.

The first time I came to the Arrowfish Tavern for dinner, William's family beat up half of the tavern guests, and Finia threw at least a dozen rude sailors into the stinky ditch at the entrance of the tavern, Xiaomi Sha'er kicked the faint sadness of the four old guys, and the brave Seluer smashed two stupid heads with a big wine glass.

How many did William knock down, you ask?Sorry, not one.

He guarded the demented Miluna and hid aside to watch the fun. Even if someone came forward to provoke him, William never made a move. Instead, he gave the opportunity to the little girls who love street fights, and then he won for himself The title of "the coward behind the violent woman".

Just like a giant dragon would never be interested in provocations from ants, William is basically insensitive to the provocations of ordinary people. In his opinion, those poor sailors' stabbing behavior is similar to that of a one- or two-year-old child. Milkman's bared teeth are no different.

However, William's leisurely mood was interrupted when the two beggars approached little Selour.It wasn't that William discriminated against beggars, but that he felt a little danger from these two beggars.

When one of the beggars reached out and wanted to grab Seluer's arm, William stepped in front of Seluer, stopped his little apprentice behind him, and said to the beggar with a smile: "My friend, if you If you want to ask for food, you should go to the boss here, maybe he can give you some leftovers."

Unexpectedly, the beggar said, "No! What we need is not food, but a piece of land that belongs to us."

William chuckled lightly and asked, "Oh! You want land, why don't you go to the city guard to apply for it? It's so hard that someone makes it difficult for you?"

The city guard that William mentioned was a local institution composed of members of the original Army of the Subjugated Nations. Of course, this institution must have been appointed by William.The city guard is somewhat similar to the comprehensive city management organization in William's previous life. The members in it are basically locals, and the things they are responsible for are relatively messy.

William's positioning of the City Guard Office is similar to the role of urban management. Their main job is to maintain the urban security work in Scar Valley Town, but this is only the long-term responsibility of the City Guard Office. Since the area is basically still under military control, the City Guard The firm's own work has not yet been fully online.

There are two main tasks of the City Guard Office. One is household registration statistics. William will never allow the people under his family to be like black households. The household registration system that has been insisted on for thousands of years in his previous life is definitely a good national policy. .

Now that William has basically conquered the entire valley, the household registration system must be fully implemented next. Dagger Valley has already begun preparations for this work before William occupied Shadow Valley. It is not too abrupt to implement this policy in Scar Valley. The point is that the entire valley is relatively sparsely populated. As long as a group of suitable manpower is trained in the early stage, William doesn't need to worry too much.

As for the second job of the city guard office in Scar Valley Town, it is a job that is implemented in conjunction with the household registration system, that is, a large-scale investigation of the land and property of the local population.

Among them is a sub-item of work, which is a policy arrangement for the three no personnel.The so-called "three nos" refer to locals who have no land, no real estate, and no family, and foreigners who come here with the intention of settling down.

According to William's idea, as long as anyone who is willing to settle here, as long as he obeys the law, works hard, and is willing to pay taxes and loyalty to the regime represented by William, he is eligible to register and obtain a paid land and other means of production. rationing.

Even if you are a mouse in the gutter or a beggar on the street, as long as you are willing to work and self-motivated, William will give you the treatment of a legal citizen, so that you can securely get a decent opportunity to support yourself.

It should be noted that in the past two years since the death of King Rashan, the people of Scar Valley Town have been tortured and oppressed. I don’t know how many families have been deprived of their property, robbed of their wealth by those foreign robbers and thugs, and finally ended up with their families ruined. They all lived on the streets and became penniless beggars, vagabonds, and orphans.

Without the presence of William, the population of Scar Valley Town would have dropped from over 1 in its heyday to less than 4000 in ten years, and most of them would be foreign invaders and immigrants.Even now, in less than two years, the local population of Scar Valley Town has lost nearly one-third.

When William ordered the officials of the city guard office to start to rectify the local household registration and property investigation, the most work that the city guard office dealt with was actually property disputes, and most of them were cases of powerful outsiders encroaching on local property .

At this time, William's advantage in appointing members of the Army of the Subjugated Nations who are familiar with local affairs as officials of the city guard came to the fore.These people are all local people with lofty ideals. They have a lot of resentment towards those outsiders, and they also know what they have done.

Therefore, when dealing with similar cases, the city guards can basically pinpoint the context of the case accurately. They tend to protect the interests of the local people and at the same time severely crack down on those outside lawbreakers. William severely harvested the loyalty of the locals and established the authority of the new regime.

Just like the beggars who appeared in front of William's family, if they were serious beggars, they basically only needed to go to the city guard to file an application, and then they could get a certain allocation of production and living materials such as land, grain, seeds, etc. Start a new life with hope.

But these two beggars didn't go to the City Guards Office to apply for land, but they ran in front of William and little Selour, asking for land. It was obvious from this posture that it was not a serious way.

The beggar shook his head after hearing what William said, "No! The city guards can't give us the land we want!"

William looked into the beggar's eyes and said, "Friend, since the city guard can't give you what you want, I don't even have what you want here!"

The beggar smiled, and said with certainty: "You have! Your Excellency, as long as we kill you and capture this little girl from the Omeser family, the land we want will definitely be fulfilled!"

By the way, King Rashan's surname is Omeser, so if Selule is really King Rashan's illegitimate daughter, then her full name is Selur Omeser.

William looked at the beggar calmly, and said in a very affirmative tone: "My friend, I don't think the land you expected will be realized! Because you can't kill me!"

"If we want you to die, you will die! But before that, let you experience pain." The beggar took off his tattered robe, revealing a strong and flexible body, with a tattoo on his chest A huge skull tattoo, another beggar followed suit, and they rushed towards William.

These two beggars didn't use any weapons. They attacked William with their fists and feet. I have to say that these two guys are quite good. Their fists are almost comparable to warhammers. They are fierce and explosive, and each blow is enough to interrupt a human being. any bone in the body.

Especially the leading beggar, between his fists and feet there is even a force of concussion that can penetrate steel, hitting people's bodies can definitely hurt the soft vital parts such as internal organs, which is different from serious martial arts. The dark energy in it is quite similar.

Among all the fighters that William had seen in Faerun, this was the one whose fighting style was most similar to the boxing techniques that William practiced.Therefore, William was very interested in the origins of these two beggars, so he didn't shoot them to death as soon as he got started, but deliberately concealed his strength, and cooperated with the two opponents to let them show their strengths.

The attack speed of these two opponents is very fast, no matter whether they stop their footsteps or attack and defend frequency, they are faster than normal human fighters; their attacks are very targeted, always attacking some vital parts of William, and their punches and kicks There is an inexplicable oscillating force between them.

Among them, the stronger beggar can launch an oscillation attack with every blow, and the weaker one needs three punches and five kicks to bring out such an inconspicuous oscillation attack.

William is such a high-ranking existence in martial arts. After a short time, he completely saw through the details of the two opponents.Although the abilities of these two people and the martial arts practiced by William appear to be relatively similar, they are two completely different models inside.

If martial arts is to hone the flesh and blood body through various skills and experience, to discover the potential, and to improve the ultimate quality of the creature itself, then what the other party is practicing is to manifest the body structure with spirit and will, so that the human body moves toward The path of evolution of a certain extraordinary biological template.

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To put it in a more common way, the martial arts brought by William from his previous life is a way to discover and strengthen human beings' own abilities. He himself remains a human being and becomes nothing else.

And the skills practiced by these two guys in front of William are the way to transform human beings into inhuman states. When they have practiced to the extreme, even if they still retain the appearance of human beings, in fact, their essence is no longer a human being. real human beings.

To use a mythological terminology from William's previous life to describe it, then what they practiced was demon magic, and they would achieve the status of demons in the future.

That's right!It's the monk!

The existence of monks is relatively rare in Faerun. Generally, they can only be seen in the southern coastal areas such as Calimshan, Amn, or the more prosperous city of Waterdeep. It is said that most of the monks are from the mainland of Faerun other regions, such as the Karatu continent.

And the two "beggars" in front of William were the relatively rare monks.

After William easily defeated the two monks with their fists, they almost knew everything about William's question and talked endlessly.

They are members of the Priestess of Perpetual Death, an ancient order that believes in death and specializes in causing the death of others through natural means.However, they don't care which god has the priesthood of death. It doesn't make much difference to them whether Jaeger or Melkor holds the priesthood of death.

Dating back to the days of Calimshan freed from djinn control, the order was originally founded by slaves of djinn to defend themselves against their former masters of the elements, but over time the monks became addicted to Carnage and death outside the initial target.

Then the perishing monk gradually became an illegal organization in the Calimshan area, and was eventually expelled by the locals.

The perishing monks wandered the land of Faerûn, beckoning to the inhabitants of every place, and they found that disguised as a beggar could make them incognito, so they could travel more freely.

So these guys like to go to those chaotic areas as beggars, and then use their fists to build a small place for themselves, until the locals can no longer stand their tyranny and cruelty, and drive them from that land expelled from above.

And the perishing monks who were expelled will continue to look for the next place to live as beggars and vagabonds.

There is nothing wrong with the idea that the perishing monks wished to understand death and aspire to a perfect death.It's just that no one is quite sure what a perfect death really means, but the Monks of the Immortals believe that inflicting injury and death on others with their bare hands can teach them what it takes to achieve their own perfect death.

This kind of thinking is more evil!Typical cultist!

It was the chaos in Scar Valley Town that attracted the eternal death monks for more than two years. These evil monks were preparing to fight a world with their fists in this chaotic town in order to obtain a place to live and develop their organization. Unfortunately, The appearance of William disrupted the plans of the perishing monks.

And these monks also grasped the key to the situation. It can be said that as long as William can be killed, the town of Scar Valley, which is gaining stability, will immediately become a fertile land of chaos again, and the monks who will die forever will also gain rare opportunities for development. .