Soul echo

Chapter 205 The Past
"...the evidence is not sufficient."

After listening, Zhong Ye said calmly: "The information now is not enough to prove my guess."

Bishop Hill took a deep breath, "But it's very close."

Afterwards, he asked several clerks to sit down.

They just sorted out the general context of the past 19 years, and now this pile of low table records is not enough to just figure out these things.

"Parrish." The bishop turned to look at his assistant, "How many of the clerks who participated in recording the incident 19 years ago are still alive? Or, how many are still living around Lyon?"

As assistant to the bishop, the vicar has the power to act for the bishop.

Every six months, the bishop or the vice-bishop will organize people to visit the retired clergy, not only to protect the retirement life of the clergy, but also to learn some secrets from those old clergy that only they know.

These secrets are often useless, but they can be used occasionally, and when they are really needed, it is a time of crisis.

It was Parrish who organized a manpower to visit the last time, and he knew better than Hill himself.

Parish hardly thought about it, and replied: "One died in an accident five years ago, another moved to other cities with his children, and the other three are still alive."

In the church, most of the clerics who serve as clerks are middle-aged and elderly people. They have been cultivated by time and have become calm. They will not add oil and vinegar, and will record what happened according to strict regulations.

Most of them do not have the ability to cast divine spells, nor do they have superb combat skills, but their existence is indispensable for a church. Even in some small churches, there will be priests who also serve as clerks.

Because of this, there will be a situation in the past 19 years when 'all the paperwork was retired'.

Before the current clerks began to narrate the records, the Church of the Sun sent someone to ask the remaining three clerks to come back and help them recall what happened at that time.

So, shortly after Archdeacon Parrish answered, the door of the reception room was pushed open, and an elderly man on crutches walked into the room with the help of an apprentice.

The apprentice spoke in the old man's ear, reminding him of the purpose of coming back this time, and the old man nodded, indicating that he already knew.

A clerk in the room brought a chair from the corner of the room and invited the old man to sit down.

The old man was not polite, sat on the chair and put the crutches aside.

The muddy eyes blinked, looked at Bishop Hill for a while, and then asked: "You are... Hill? It's been a long time. How did you grow so big in a blink of an eye?"

Hearing the old man's exclamation, Bishop Hill smiled wryly, "Mr. William, we only met last year..."

"...Oh, my brain!" The old man was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help sighing, "My memory is getting worse and worse. If it was when I was young, let alone last year, I would I even remember things from decades ago... By the way, I heard that you called me back to ask some questions, what do you want to ask?"

Looking at him like this, I really wonder if he can remember what happened 19 years ago...

The two bishops were still hesitating, so Zhong Ye asked directly: "Mr., we want to know about the hallucinogen flooding event that happened to the upper class in Lyon 19 years ago."

Hearing this, the old man's face suddenly became serious.

"19 years ago..." The old man took a light breath, and all eyes were on him.

The old man fell into the memory, recalling while talking, with a low voice: "I don't seem to have told you about this incident... The beginning of that incident may have been 21 or 22 years ago, but this It was just a guess by a few of us at the time, and it should not be in the records.

"At that time, we suspected that the problem of hallucinogens was brought from the capital, because there were the most suspicious points at that time, and among the few nobles who were suspected of being the 'source', two had been to the capital, and they were also in the capital. Not half a year after they came back from the capital, hallucinogens slowly became popular.

"Because those nobles refused to tell the truth, we have no way of determining who is the 'source'. We just vaguely know that hallucinogens were circulated at noble gatherings, but we don't know which time or how many times. Sure.

"After hallucinogens became popular, the nobles didn't want their handle to be held by others, so they chose to secretly buy it from outside—this should be found in the records."

Several current clerks looked at each other, and stepped forward to search for it.

The old man was immersed in his own memories, and was not disturbed by the movements of the several clerks. He paused and continued to talk: "The strange thing is that the hallucinogens they bought are all the same kind. Regarding this, they themselves It also feels a little strange, because they are not only looking for purchases around Lyon, but also looking for hallucinogen dealers who can provide them with 'goods', but the hallucinogens that everyone buys are the same kind of hallucinogens-this , They didn't know it at first, and it was only confirmed in the later exchanges."

Hearing this, Bishop Hill took a deep breath and clenched his hands on his knees.

At the time, this kind of thing may have been just a coincidence, because hallucinogens were strictly prohibited, and no mage or alchemist would risk being wanted by the church to develop new hallucinogens.

Moreover, the church is always paying attention to the hallucinogen market. Once a new hallucinogen appears, they will immediately notice it, and then track it down. It is easy to catch the hallucinogen dealer through the "only supply channel" , so most hallucinogen dealers will not choose to take the risk.

What's more, the research and development of new hallucinogens can't be completed overnight, and it takes a lot of time and money. If they had that spare time, they would have sold countless copies of hallucinogens and made more money.

Therefore, there are only a few kinds of hallucinogens on the market. From the perspective of the time, it is more likely that this incident is a 'coincidence'.

"But this is a coincidence. Those hallucinogen dealers sold the same hallucinogen to other people before - after finding out these things, all hallucinogen markets were destroyed by our church. , that hallucinogen gradually disappeared from the market..."

Because behind these things, there is an invisible hand pushing and manipulating!

Since then...

Zhong Ye frowned. He began to consciously promote the development of these things more than 20 years ago. Although it may have been interrupted for a few years in the middle, the situation has developed to a serious point due to mental calculation or inadvertence.

"Now you suddenly invite me back and ask me about these things..." The old man looked up at Hill and Parish, and then at Zhong Ye, an adventurer who was obviously an 'outsider', "Is it from hallucinogens?" Is there a problem again?"

The old man has retired for many years. As a retiree, he should not care about the affairs of the church. This is a customary thing for all clergy after retirement, even the cardinal and the pope—or, they should be more like this.

If you pay too much attention to the affairs of the church and give pointers from time to time, it is easy to cause power confusion in the system, which is not beneficial to the development of the church.

After people get old, their life scope will be limited to a circle, and things outside the circle will generally not attract their attention.

Bishop Hill pondered for a moment, and selectively explained the facts—only about the 'spread of hallucinogens', without mentioning Zhong Ye's conjecture.

After listening, the old man glared angrily, and shouted angrily: "This group of guys! They really don't even want their lives for money! If it was in my time, I would cut them all off!"

The incident 19 years ago ended with 'all hallucinogen dealers were executed, nobles who used hallucinogens were not allowed to inherit titles, and all reigning nobles must abdicate', because compared to the Sun Church with abundant martial arts, the nobles Fela is really unbearable.

Not long after the old man finished telling the story of the past, two more old men came hand in hand.

——Zhong Ye and the others still need these old documents to confirm each other and supplement the facts of that incident back then.

A person's memory may be wrong, if several people tell their memories and confirm each other, mistakes and omissions can be reduced!

(End of this chapter)