Whispering Poems

Chapter 3226 The Elder and the Demonic Sword

The "Snow Mountain Hall" is the main venue for the upcoming All Souls' Day. It is also the place where the tribes at the foot of the snow mountain hold collective meetings. Other festivals and celebrations are also held here, and usually no one except the tribal leaders and elders is allowed to enter.

Of course, a stranger like Shad was not allowed to enter and visit, but the old priest Kane, who took him to visit the town of Kyle Todd, did take Shad to visit a local funeral.

The locals regard the snow mountain as a sacred mountain and will not easily bury the body there. Burial is also not popular here, but the traditional water burial method is adopted.

When Shade and old priest Kane walked along the path in the town to the westernmost pier, they stood on a high place and watched the people on the pier solemnly bid farewell to the coffin that had been placed on the raft. The funeral was presided over by another young priest in the village, but he was just an ordinary person.

The funeral was similar to that in the city, with relatives saying goodbye, reciting eulogies, and reminiscing about the past. After the farewell ceremony, everyone sang a local spiritual song in a low voice. The song was ethereal and beautiful, but also had the roughness of the style of island fishermen.

The raft was then pushed into the sea and floated downstream, and was eventually pushed away by the waves and disappeared into the horizon.

In general, everything here is very interesting to outsiders. After he came to this world, he saw the most scenery of various steam-era cities. Although the cities are different, they have many similarities. Only the "Kyle Todd Town" he visited this time seemed quaint but full of vitality.

Without discussing the convenience of people's lives, everything here seemed so fresh and different. Shade felt that Dorothy would definitely like this place. The stories drawn from this place were definitely completely different from those in the city.

The political systems of the various fortresses at the foot of the snow-capped mountains are also one of the things that Xia De is interested in.

There is no "village chief" here, but the "tribal leader" and "elders" jointly manage the village. The tribal leader is usually an ordinary person, responsible for all political, diplomatic, economic and other management affairs in the village, while the elders are usually ring wizards, responsible for religious, priest, wedding and funeral activities, etc. They manage the ring wizards in the tribe, and local ring wizards are basically priests.

Of course, not all priests are ring sorcerers.

So when visiting the town of Kyle Todd, Shad asked the old priest Kane whether the mayor of the town was the tribal leader here, and then he got a positive answer.

However, the mayor of Kyle Todd is not on the island now. He and the mayor of the Wheel of Time City and his entourage went to the capital of the principality, Lomare City. Grand Duke Lagson called everyone to a meeting - because of the important position of this island in the principality, administrative officials at the level of the mayor will also participate in important meetings.

Shad guessed that the content of the meeting might be related to the upcoming talks between Carsenrick and Delarion.

The two walked around the town, most people here knew old priest Kane, and people would greet him from time to time. And old priest Kane introduced Shad as a "distant relative" of elder Harald, so people were not curious about what the handsome young man from the north was doing.

At lunch time, the group that had gone to the mountains had not returned yet, so the old priest Kane entertained Shade at home. The priests did not forbid marriage, and the elderly lived with their wives and their eldest son's family.

It can be seen that this family is still centered around old priest Kane, so the family is very respectful to the guests he brings. As for the content of lunch, it is fish again, but it is paired with cheese and cured meat. Because there are guests visiting, there are also apples cooked in syrup as dessert after the meal.

However, outsiders felt embarrassed to visit someone else's home empty-handed, so they carried a large piece of fresh beef and a few carrots in their hands before entering the door, and thus "beef stewed with carrots" was added to the lunch table.

The locals have a unique way of cooking this dish, but Shade feels that the taste is still not as good as that of the maids he is familiar with.

After lunch, old Priest Kane estimated that the group that went to the snow-capped mountains would soon be back, so he did not take Shade around anymore, but went with him to the mountain pass in the north of Kyle Todd Town to wait.

There are also wooden walls and gates to protect against wild animals and prevent people from hunting in the snowy mountains.

Shad and the old priest stood on the towering sentry post on the side of the gate and chatted while waiting for the group's return. He introduced himself as "a writer traveling in the Old World" and talked about the northern cities he had visited, but did not mention Green Lake, Moon Bay and Vista Woodlands in the south where major events had occurred recently.

The old priest Cain was basically unguarded against Shad, and when Shad asked him about more information about Elder Harald, he was willing to share with Shad.

For example, when Shad talked about the old man wearing a horned hat he met yesterday, he jokingly asked, "Do you want to play a game of Rhodes?" And the old priest Kane proved that the elder was indeed a master of Rhodes and he liked to accept challenges from outsiders on weekdays.

Even when the Wheel of Time City applied for the "Big City Player" in 1856, Elder Harald also contributed.

"In fact, the locals generally call him the 'Great Elder'. The 'Snow Mountain Hall Gathering House' composed of five high-ringed Great Elders is the real political core of the local Fatun tribe. The experience of Great Elder Harald is also legendary. He was born in an ordinary local family. When he was young, he left the island and traveled around the Old World, and even went to the Kingdom of the Islands and the New World.

After returning at the age of 23, I was blessed by the Holy Mountain to become a ring sorcerer. I then experienced the division and civil war of the tribe, the war with foreigners, and the alliance with the Principality of Lagerson, and finally came to the current situation. "

"This reminds me of an old priest I met during my travels. He served the church all his life and never married. Although he was just a priest, he was very respected in the local parish."

Shade said with a smile, but old priest Kane shook his head:

"Then Elder Harald is not comparable to the old priest. He got married when he was young and had three wives. This is one of his few flaws. But the elder's family is quite happy. Among his three sons and two daughters, one has awakened the talent of a ring wizard, and he also has a granddaughter."

He hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was appropriate to say this, so Xia De shook his head:

"It doesn't matter. You don't have to tell me the secrets of your tribe."

"It's actually no secret. The Great Elder has a very talented granddaughter. She can even be said to be the most talented young person born on this island in the past five hundred years. If nothing unexpected happens, she will most likely become the next Great Elder after she turns forty. But she is unwilling to stay on the island and has basically not lived here since she became an adult."

“Young people want to see the outside world?”

Shade expressed his understanding. Old Priest Kane leaned on the window sill of the sentry post and looked at the path down the mountain outside:
"That's probably the case, but it also has something to do with her fierce teacher. In fact, when the girl was born, the elders of the previous generation predicted that she would be attracted by the sun's radiance and the moon... Let's not talk about that, but she might come back this year. You know our All Souls' Day, right? She might come to participate in this year's All Souls' Day."

Last night, Elder Harald had told him to test the attitude of this young man from another land who was accepted by Snow Mountain towards All Souls' Day. Although it was not necessary to really ask a foreigner to help on All Souls' Day, it would always be a good idea to have more helpers.

Shade is also interested in the topic of All Souls’ Day:
"I heard people in the city talk about the All Souls' Day, so I will definitely come to see it. People in the black market told me some ways to celebrate the festival, and also said that the spirits and elements on the island during the All Souls' Day."

Boom!

The loud noise in the distance drowned out the second half of Xia De's words. The two shocked people looked out the window towards the snow-capped mountains at the same time, but they could not see anything unusual from here.

"Avalanche?"

Shade, who had no experience living in the snowy mountain area, asked, but the old priest Kane had a very ugly expression:

"It's not an avalanche. From the sound, it seems like something is happening. Can you follow me into the mountains and take a look? It looks like something is wrong."

He did not set out with Xia De immediately, but asked the young man who was guarding the gate to deliver the letter to the town first, and then went into the mountains with Xia De. In this way, even if they could not come back, or the incident was caused by young people from other places, someone would continue to investigate.

Although the old priest who was familiar with the Fatumonster Snow Mountain was only a low-level one, his speed in the snow mountain was not slower than that of Shade. He was able to find the way in many places that seemed to have no way. The two of them did not talk along the way, and in more than 20 minutes, they reached the mountainside from the foot of the mountain.

This was indeed not an avalanche, or rather, such a loud noise did not cause an avalanche on the Fatumunster Snow Mountain.

The destination cave was located on the slope of the snowy mountain. When they left the path carved out of the mountain and climbed the snow, before the two of them actually arrived at the scene of the accident, Xia De sensed a powerful whispering element:
"Be careful, I'll go ahead."

The old priest Kane was behind, pointing the way. When they were walking on the snow and approaching the cave on the mountainside, a figure flew out of the cave. The eleventh-ringed elder Harald rolled several times on the snow before stopping. When he got up, he covered his left chest with his right hand and leaned on his long staff with his left hand to try to stabilize himself.

He spat out a mouthful of blood directly on the snow, his eyes fixed on the entrance of the cave. The long sword, which was surrounded by black light and whose shape could not be seen at all, appeared first, and then the sunlight of the winter afternoon illuminated the middle-aged woman holding the sword.

Her face was pale, but her eyes were pure black. She was over two meters tall, and she was wearing clothes like an ordinary housewife, but underneath her skin was a strange metallic color, as if a steel plate was embedded.

PS: It seems that the word count will soon reach 1KW. I will update more when the time comes. Thank you for your support along the way.