"..."
"She, a woman in red, a woman in red-"
"She, with the healing hands, with the healing hands-"
"The magic potion brings us hope"
"A compassionate heart warms the cold valley."
"Praise God, praise God, for bringing us this healer to heal our wounds and diseases."
"Praise God, praise God, bring us this healer, heal our cattle and sheep"
"..."
In the courtyard of Winter's old house, a small knife accompanied by the owner's humming rhythmically trimmed the fur.
Recently, the song "The Foreign Apothecary" has been widely sung around town.
Because of the simplicity of the tune, any bard can play it on the instrument they are good at.
Some guys put it into their own poetry books and claimed to be its author, hoping to win the favor of Mrs.
Walky Yar and thus become residents of Winter's old house.
Leddy is not sure who actually wrote the song.
She can't help but laugh whenever she recalls the bards who weren't content with lip-synching and fisticuffs against the competition.
The potion had just been unsealed, and the acidic gas was forced straight into the eyes."Ugh, this softener is more deadly than sour beans." No wonder Sela assures me it won't go bad." Leddy stirred a spoonful of the softening agent into the spray bottle and sprayed it on the freshly groomed fur.
"Leddy!" came Winnie's crisp call from beyond the fence.
"I'll be right there." Leddy took out the adhesive and glued the three pieces of cut leather together in the order of hard leather, soft leather, and hard leather, pressed them under the stone slab, and then walked towards Winnie.
"Why don't you come in?"
"No.
I'm going to the bear barn later.
One of the female bears seems to be in labor, and I'm taking over for Lord Winter to look after her."The old man has been sleeping in the bear barn for three days."
A few days ago, I saw Sela deliver a sheep.
Maybe she can help."
"That's not why I'm here." Winnie looked around; no one else was there."Walky Yar, is there anything unusual about them?"
"No, they are no different from a normal couple."
"They're not from the valley, yet they're having a growing impact on the local area." That's something we all have to worry about.
I hope you can get to the bottom of what they are and where they are coming from sooner rather than later."
"I think you guys are overthinking it." Leddy responded in disbelief.
Winnie shook her head, "Did you hear about Ironstone Town?"
"Yes, the people there are very frightened now." People can't figure out what would attack a cripple, so like the people here, they attribute that to the Hetel Banshee and its minion Grayhill, "Leddy shuddered."That tactic does make people break out in a cold sweat."
"You've seen Frostfire's body." If that was really Keane's doing, I think what happened in Ironstone Town had something to do with him as well." Seeing her sister's lips tightly shut in obvious resistance to her comments, Winnie grunted helplessly, "I don't want them involved in this either." But the Winter family has lost some warriors after all.
If we don't pay attention to it, others will think we're doing nothing."
"You believe that Keane killed Frostfire?"
"He's the one who said to himself that he killed Frostfire with a dagger and a candlestick.
What, you doubt that? "
"Yes, for a farmer, he's a good fighter.
But that wasn't enough for him to defeat the Archmage.
I have led several warriors in battles with the evil witch.
We were helpless against her until the mana ran out.
That cost us a lot of money.
And she turned into a raven and flew away when her mana ran out."
"Maybe Sela is involved." We all know her potions are amazing." Winnie cautioned.
Leddy couldn't continue to listen.
Do we have to talk about this like long-winded women? Liv's brother, Toffen, is already walking on the ground.
It's all because of Sela.
Compared to that, those guys who know some plants and call themselves healers are liars."
Seeing someone pass by, Winnie paused.
She wanted to both avoid the conversation between the two escalating into an argument and give herself some time to think.
Only when the passerby was far away did she continue."You don't know much about herbs." They can both save and harm people in the hands of an apothecary."
The sister's words were not without merit, which put Leddy in conflict.
As far as she could remember, Sela's medicine mostly helped people to get rid of disasters.
As for Keane, he neither looked like a credulous bard nor a fancy torturer.
She kneaded the thin braid tied around her ear in silence.
At one time, Gerritsen intended to make the two men of unknown origin his guests, but Winnie thought that was very mean and persuaded her father to make them lords.
She was the future heir to the family, but she had failed to think things through, which made her feel bad about herself."I have to go now.
Don't forget to remind your lord that tomorrow is a day of worship."
----------
The next day, at nightfall, the residents of the valley lit torches and walked into the trestle.
The long procession in the winding trestle slowly rose up, as if the craggy texture of the blood flowing against the trend, and gathered in a mist-shrouded mountain top woodland after several turns.
The larch and spruce rustled.
In a trance, some heard the wheat field swinging with the wind; some heard the footsteps of wild animals; some heard the hissing of warriors; and some heard the prelude to a storm.
These sounds are both real and imaginary, and people have long been accustomed to them.
Torches illuminate the forest clearing where the stone totems of Varola, Ursula, Killian, and Kiel stand.
The valley people believe that their ancestors carved the gods on these stones.
These totems do not touch the sky like the surrounding trees, and their carvings are rather crude.
However, they have been here to listen to the cries of the fallen babies and the confusion of the lost.
They have witnessed men and women holding hands and vowing together, and they have seen the ashes of the ordinary go away with the wind.
The people of the valley have long worshipped them as gods.
In the early days, farmers offered all the offerings to Varola, but nowadays, women offer the placentas and umbilical cords of their newborn animals to the goddess themselves.
This is a prayer not only for the health of their animals but also for their own fertility.
After the men scatter the golden straw around the statue, the women wearing rings of wheat return it to the earth by lighting it on fire.
As for the goddess' companion, the faithful shepherd dog Old Murdoch, one does not forget to prepare a few bones for him.
Whether the prey harvested is big or small, the hunters will thank Ursula for her blessing at this time.
They crushed the bones and ate the marrow in front of the stone sculpture.
The old bone fragments have mostly turned into dust at the goddess' feet, and people occasionally find some fragments among them as if they were carved by the goddess' own hands as ornaments or amulets.
The warriors drip blood into the barrel in front of Killian.
Sela is glad that she doesn't have to give blood, as fighting is mainly a man's business, and Keane is glad that there is not enough light so that no one will notice the difference in his blood.
Several felons are brought before Killian.
Most of them were about to have their final battle in this life.
Normally, the Noahs are not sentenced to immediate execution if they have not committed the most heinous crimes, but are left to the gods to decide on a day of worship.
Serious criminals are usually those who have committed murder, blasphemy, betrayal of the lord, and also enemies who refuse to submit after being captured.
Convictions were generally made by the lord, and unless the majority of the people expressed doubts about the lord's verdict, the sentence was carried out.
If there is only one felon in a given ritual, he will fight a duel with one of the inhabitants who wishes him dead, the lord, or a guard appointed by the lord until one of them dies.
In the absence of a felon, the lord or the lord's guards will fight a duel.
Nowadays, the Noahs have realized the importance of their population, and the duel between lords or guards has been changed from "until death" to "when there is blood".
The felons each received their weapons and then fought each other until the last man stood.
A woman dressed as Nevaika (meaning "battlefield maiden", a generic term for the maids or daughters of Killian, the god of war), poured a cup of blood wine for the winner.
After drinking the blood wine, the survivor lights a fire to send the dead away.
As a reward for the survivor, he has the right to decide for himself whether to stay or go.
As for whether the dead can enter the Temple of the Spirits, it depends on whether the god of war is satisfied with their performance in the final battle.
Kiel's name has always been associated with storms, lightning, hail, bitter winds, blizzards, and tornadoes.
For a long time, people did not know how to express their reverence for this god.
Until someone first rubbed the ashes left by lightning striking the ground on his face, claiming that this would prevent him from being struck by lightning.
Since then, people have offered worship to the god of storms in this way.
After worshipping the four gods and praying, the people drank blood wine and then began an all-night celebration.
Minstrels played reed pipes, harps, mandolins, and tambourines to cheer the dancing crowd.
Cups made of cow horn and ivory were passed among the crowd and would not stop for a moment.
Beautiful singing, precise throwing, dazzling juggling, tattoos that dance, jokes that make people blush...
If you have a skill, there is no shortage of audience and applause at this point.
The night brought more energy to Sela, and she was surrounded by many people.
Men, women, and children came forward from time to time to offer their respects.
Through observation, Sela found that most of the lord's wives would not accept invitations from the commoners to dance together, so she followed the custom and declined those invitations.
The Winter family got the cold shoulder, and old Winter didn't bother to make fun of himself.
A few glasses of mulled wine later, he left to celebrate.
People who know this old man know that he is relieved that the newborn bear boy is born.
As the lord's right-hand man, Pereito travels from lord to lord to keep Gerritsen in the loop.
He keeps an eye on whose glass is empty and whose side is unaccompanied.
Since helping Gerritsen seize the reins of the valley, Jon has risen from the ranks of the less powerful lords to become the valley's most important lord.
The lord is in no hurry to settle on a surname, but he looks forward to the day when he will be known by his own merits, just like the heroes sung by the Iron Wall of Rognar and Olaf the Fearless.
Keane covered the note with his hand and looked around as if nothing was wrong, but found nothing.
When no one was looking, he opened the note.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Watch out for G Winter.
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Keane couldn't tell by the handwriting whose hand the note came from, but he smelled a clue.
The shorthand smelled of magic potion.
The additive, used to write magic scrolls, was volatile and spontaneously combusted when exposed to air.
Unsurprisingly, the note turned to dust a few moments later."This person knows that I can't read very well, so the note is brief and concise, and he or she knows magic." He looked over at Winnie, who was cheering on some bard's song in the distance.
Everyone seems to know that I can't read very well.
I can't tell by that where the note came from."
Finally, Leddy's last opponent fell to the table, and the warrior woman won her coveted prize, an ivory flagon.
It was as long as an adult's arm, creamy white all over without a hint of miscellaneous text, and you could tell that it was the first tooth that the young mammoth had grown.
Several artisans stepped forward and offered to carve the ivory.
The suggestions distracted the drunken Leddy.
Soon, she lost her patience."Get out of the way! Or I'll carve your faces right now! "
Leddy picked up the jug full of honey wine and returned to Keane with a waddling step.
She poured a glass for each of them, "To the Lord!" With that, she raised her glass and drank it down.
It is customary that if the lord is satisfied with his squire, he will drink up the wine.
If the lord thinks the guard's performance is average, he does not have to drink it all.
If the lord is not satisfied, he does not have to drink the guard's wine.
Keane drank up the wine Leddy served him, and the two then climbed into conversation.
"You do need a decanter in your room, and perhaps a tapestry."
"Embroidery, huh?" Leddy looked down at the lord's wives, who were talking and laughing under a tree, and said, "It's a good thing no one ever taught me that one, or I would have stabbed my own hands into a beehive."
With another glass of honey wine in her stomach, Leddy could barely maintain her sitting position, but her tongue was already out of control.
Looking at the men and women dancing with their arms up, she couldn't help but whine, "Aren't you going to dance?" Don't worry.
I can take care of myself, I always have."
Keane continues to speak while keeping an eye on Jon.
"How could I forget this?" Leddy bobbed her head, the effects of the alcohol nearly throwing her off balance.
"What about you, Leddy? Dancing looks a lot easier than embroidery." Keane drank another glass of honeyed wine, mentally thanking Sela for the antidote.
"I can only dance Varosur, the kind where a lot of people take each other's arms and circle around the fire."
"You are, after all, the lord's daughter.
Has no one taught you that?"
"I joined the guard early in life.
Most of the warriors don't dance." As he looked over at Winnie, who was dancing, a glint of envy flashed through his eyes, and a smile spread across her face."My sister could dance many kinds of dances.
She was always the center of attention in the crowd.
"Leddy, I have a question for you.
You can't answer if you don't want to."
"What is it? Feel free to ask."
"Why is your hair and eye color different from Winnie's?"
Leddy looked at the jug he had just won and was silent for a moment."We are not sisters by blood.
My father abandoned my mother for status.
My mother asked me to come to him before she died.
For that reason, I must acknowledge Winnie as the eldest daughter." She sighed long and hard, "I thought about leaving, but that means continuing to live without support." As she spoke, Leddy felt the drink churning in her belly and finally couldn't help but throw up.
"You're stronger than you think.
Come on, drink this." Keane gave Leddy a bottle of the potion, then helped her to a secluded corner.
A slight cool night breeze carried the scent of turpentine.
Soon, the world before Leddy's eyes regained clarity.
"Gerritsen asked you to spy on us, didn't he?"
"Yes." Leddy wasn't surprised and didn't hide anything; "You're not from around here and he wants to know what you're here for." She replied calmly.
"Thank you for your honesty, Leddy."
"You'd make a good lord.
so would Sela." Leddy looked at the stone totem not far away, "I made a secret sacrifice to the Wookiee.
He told me you are not like Frostfire.
You are Heir of the North Wind, like us."
Magnificent beams of light spread across the night sky as the doors of Temple of the Spirits arrived unannounced.
The bards gathered in one place, their thoughts unspoken to each other.
The various instruments played in tandem with each other, summoning those who were not yet drunk with a gentle prelude.
A few heavy hammers fell on the drums and the people sang "Heir of the North Wind" and danced the Varosur to welcome their ancient faith.