landbeastnovel #119 - They are wise and pious, they are pious and wise
#119 - They are wise and pious, they are pious and wise
Horn and his group walked along the path, heading towards the monastery hidden in the forest.
According to the scout who had crossed the river earlier, it was already in ruins, and there were no signs of the giant spiders.
Carrie strongly insisted on taking a look, saying that she had traveled from Black Serpent Bay to Thousand River Valley for it.
Since Carrie regained her memory, she had not revealed her background.
Horn didn't ask, and although there was a subtle, thick barrier between them, he still granted Carrie's request.
After all, she was a witch and a high-ranking member of the Secret Society. Even if they couldn't be lovers, they still had a sense of camaraderie, and he might need her promotion in the future.
Carrie was indeed very different from before.
Although she was mischievous before, she always had a silly and childish air, as if a child was stuffed into an adult's body.
But now, Carrie often kept her usually open smile tightly pursed, her eyebrows changed from inward-pointing to outward-pointing, and her eyes were frighteningly sharp.
Although she still tried to act like before, there was always an awkward feeling.
Not just her, Horn also had a sense of awkwardness.
It was like a lost cat being sent home, and everyone said it was the same one, even the DNA test was the same.
But Horn still didn't believe it, because no cat would have a 'king' on its head!
That was the feeling Carrie gave Horn now.
"There are so many devilwood trees. What are they doing planting these?" Sisi said, covering her nose. There was a peculiar stench in the air.
"What is devilwood?"
Before Sisi could answer, Carrie in front directly introduced, "Devilwood is this kind of bone-like tree. It's black from the inside out.
It can't be used for furniture, it can't be used for tools. Besides taking up space, it's useless. The purpose of planting these devilwood trees is probably... here."
Horn raised his head and squinted his eyes.
Hidden among the jungle, half of a collapsed monastery was revealed.
Huge stone pillars supported the dilapidated roof, revealing mottled walls.
Weeds stubbornly poked their heads out from the cracks in the stone pavement, and the air was filled with a faint bitter smell.
Through the broken windows, Horn could vaguely see the appearance of the ruins inside.
Broken furniture was scattered all over the place, and broken statues and scriptures were placed in the corners, everywhere with spider webs and bones.
More than a dozen guards took the lead into the monastery, searched around, and after confirming that there was no danger, they allowed Horn to enter.
This monastery covered an area of ten acres, with churches, gardens, and monks' houses on both sides. Judging from the ruins, there were even flower beds and bath pools here.
The most conspicuous of these was the collapsed mill, which was twice as tall as a normal mill.
"Such a big stone mill." Walking forward, Duvaron tapped the stone mill with his hand, "How many people are there in this monastery? They need such a big stone mill."
Rene stepped forward and slapped his hand away: "Don't touch it, be careful what pops out."
"What pops out, a ghost?"
"Anyway, don't touch it. I always feel like there's something wrong with this place."
"Nonsense, a monastery hidden in the Wild Spider Forest, everyone will feel something is wrong."
Following behind Horn, the two little ones chirped and walked forward.
Horn stepped into the church. The first floor was full of corpses, which were being dealt with by the guards. He went up to the second floor along the creaking stairs.
The ground was piled with a lot of messy bricks and wood. Seven or eight human bones and shriveled jumping spider corpses were scattered in the dust and cobwebs.
After going up to the second floor, Rene and Duvaron each took a few child soldiers to investigate around, while Horn stayed where he was.
He covered his mouth and nose, feeling that the scene in front of him had a strange feeling.
From the current situation, this monastery should have been destroyed by giant spiders that had migrated here.
"Papa, come here." Duvaron ran out of a room excitedly, his feet shaking up countless dust.
Without saying a word, he grabbed Horn's sleeve and walked towards a room.
Pushing open the door, Horn's eyes were filled with golden light. He even had to squint his eyes, and then suddenly widened them.
It was a box for clothes, which was tilted on the ground. In the box, on the ground, were all dazzling gold coins.
A whole box full of golden pounds!
If Horn didn't estimate wrong, there should be close to 2,000 pounds here.
That's close to 2,000 pounds, equivalent to 120 pounds of gold.
The hedge country only has a small tax of 400 pounds a year, and sometimes it can't be collected. This small room contains more than four years of taxes from the hedge country.
Horn's eyes lit up instantly. He would just automatically pick them up without any more effort.
Your church is my mother's slave, and sooner or later it will be my slave. How dare slaves hide private money?
You took 2,000 pounds and didn't give me a penny. Is the church's property the property of my Galar family or your church?
It's good enough that I didn't cause you any trouble.
Seeing this money, Horn's originally cloudy mood was swept away. This was really an unexpected gain.
With this money, he could run away to Norm, buy a property, buy a manor, and even buy a city councilor.
Good days are really ahead.
"Quick, quick, pack it up and put it into my little, cough, um, put it into our holy treasury."
"It's too heavy, I'll call someone else over." Duvaron ran out in a hurry to find someone to carry the money.
"Get a sturdy bag, or find a complete box!"
After instructing Duvaron's back, Horn had time to carefully look at the room.
Collapsed carved bookshelves, broken crucifixes, shattered brass censers, weathered parchment papers...
Quite a bit of flair.
"Hiss."
Bending down, Horn once again opened a treasure chest from the ruins, a well-preserved "Book of Gospels", with annotations!
It didn't rot. Horn tried to tear it, but he couldn't break it no matter how hard he tried.
This paper is also made of good parchment. The paper-making level is higher than Horn's cultural paper-making.
Good stuff, confiscated.
Looking up, there was a big hole in the top of this room.
He estimated that the two skeletons and these furniture in the room looked like they had fallen from the third or even fourth floor.
It seemed that the abbot's writing room should be above.
Rene ignored the money and carefully lay on the ground, observing the two skeletons on the ground. After looking for a long time, he suddenly picked up something.
"Your Excellency, look."
Through Rene's fingers, Horn felt familiar with this thing.
When it was in his hand, he realized that this wasn't the bone whistle to disperse giant spiders?
It was exactly the same as the one he found in the Magic Rabbit Cave, but it was broken in the middle, and even the number of holes was...
Wait, that's not right.
Horn's body was a little stiff.
He thought that these monasteries were attacked and destroyed by giant spiders that had migrated from afar.
Now he realized that this monastery may have arrived after the giant spiders.
Otherwise, what would they do with this bone flute?
In other words, the reason why this monastery was destroyed and occupied by the giant spiders was because this bone whistle was broken.
Did the people in the monastery use the bone whistle to appease the nearby giant spiders?
What are you doing? Protect them? Why, to prevent someone from discovering them?
What exactly are they doing here?
Moreover, wasn't this kind of bone whistle obtained from the Green-Clad Piper?
You know, blowing this thing requires magic!
Where did they get the magic?!
Horn's heart was pounding.
"Search again, see if there is anything else." Horn said sharply.
After searching for a while in this collapsed room, Horn picked up an iron ring from the ground.
Judging from the finger bones, it should be the short skeleton.
The previous bone flute was also found in his hand.
After explaining to Duvaron and others, Horn took the ring and began to search the broken walls of the house.
Before long, he found a mark similar to the one on the ring at the door of a flat house.
Pushing open the door, Horn covered his mouth and nose, waved his hand to disperse the flying dust, and then was stunned.
In the center of the room, Carrie was already sitting there.
"Carrie, how did you get here?"
In front of her was a pit as deep as a person, looking at Carrie's nails, it should have been dug out by her bare hands.
In front of the big pit were several walnut wood boxes, still carrying the moist breath of soil.
Unlike the previous big money box, this one was filled with various papers and miscellaneous items.
"Carrie?"
"Papa." With a piece of parchment paper next to her hand, Carrie turned her head and put on a reluctant smile, her sharp eyes disappeared.
Horn immediately sat next to Carrie and put his arm around her shoulders.
"About a year ago, a wizard found me. He told me that he had a companion who went to steal the recipe for Blue Blood Wine."
Reaching out from under Horn's armpit, Carrie put her whole tender little face through the thick barrier and buried it in Horn's arms.
With her mouth against Horn's chest, Carrie's voice was a little ethereal, like the former Carrie and the current Carrie speaking together.
"Once that person left, there was no news for nearly fourteen years. On the night of the full moon in the fourteenth year, he sent a message through a strange object.
It was a golden tooth that could transmit sound, but it could only be used once.
They thought it was a recipe, but it was a song and a sentence 'Go find the Joan Party'.
They studied it for eight years without any gain, so they sent these to the Joan Party, trying to get a reward.
We found the divination witch from the White Mountain Hermitage and determined the location here."
Picking up the parchment paper on the table, Carrie handed it to Horn.