The night curfew is coming soon, and the streets are full of people in a hurry. Starting tomorrow, a series of important meetings will be held in Bremi Town, and the night curfew makes preparations even more hasty.
Griffith took Ulan and Lahuana to the restaurant downstairs and ordered three sets of steaks, apples and bread.
"Four francs and ten sous," the waiter in the restaurant quickly glanced at the medal on Griffith's collar, then looked at the two girls beside him, and stayed on Ulan for an extra half second, "Knight
Sir, would you like some wine? We have the best martinis and ladies' drinks."
The set meal for one person actually costs 30 sous. Is it so expensive?
Griffiths, who had mainly eaten in the school cafeteria and the Earl's Mansion cafeteria these years, was stunned when he heard the price. He remembered that when he returned from the front line, a 20 sou lunch was already too expensive.
Maybe this is the case in hotels in the city. Griffith immediately rejected the idea of having some wine, and just wanted to finish eating quickly and ask the matter clearly.
After talking with Roland, Griffith realized that something big was about to happen in Beyeland. His limited social circle and nearly non-existent intelligence network gave him a very unreliable feeling of powerlessness, and he continued to grasp the situation as quickly as possible.
The purpose of contacting Tina is for this purpose. This former waitress is well-rounded and very popular in the market pubs of Bayerland. Through her, Griffith can develop a group of grassroots intelligence personnel to serve him.
As for being blinded by the upcoming events.
Unfortunately, Tina had something else to do, and here came Ulan and Lahuaanna, who didn't look very reliable. Even if these two people could get some clues from the lower-level citizens, Griffith couldn't.
Organize everything personally and ask them.
The friends Griffith knew were Galadia and her ungrateful elves, Riddlers like Roland, and Sonia and Fei who might have been sold by someone but still helped count the money seriously.
A young lady like Oona who has been well protected since she was a child, or a young lady like Rana or Ophelia who is as out of touch with the grassroots as herself...
We still need people like Tina to implement the specific work.
Griffith knocked on the table in annoyance. He had already sent someone to look for Tina or Drizzt, but there was still no reply.
Wu Lan and Lahua Na sat across the table, not daring to take a breath.
Wulan's face didn't look good. She had never liked Griffith and had just been beaten again. However, when the aroma of barbecue wafted over, her stomach growled unsatisfactorily.
Lavana's situation is the same. A lowly prostitute like her can get very little money from clients, which is just enough to make ends meet.
"Eat quickly," Griffith urged absentmindedly, "and then tell me about your situation."
After the fighting in Manisa Village ended that night, Ulan was sent to the local Holy Grace Church for treatment and observation. He was only allowed to go out for half a month. By then, the war had ended and shipping had become smoother.
Everyone was happy because the food was getting better. Soon, the goods shipped from Beyeland gradually filled the port, and the prices were so low that local workshops and weavers had no way to survive.
"Although the farm needs manpower, the crops cannot be sold at a high price. The tax official from the town charges real money for land rent. When the autumn harvest comes, the farm will be very difficult."
Wulan said while eating. Seeing that the knight had no obvious malice, she relaxed a little. She also knew that the family needed money, and she was one of the few sources of income. If the bad situation continued, she
I can only make money by doing things that I despised before.
Seeing the trainee knight again, after the initial surprise and pain, she no longer had the courage to face Griffith directly. A real extraordinary person, an officer and a knight, could press her to death with one finger.
For such a girl from a lower-class background, if the other party made certain demands, Ulan would not be able to resist, either physically or mentally.
Fortunately, he was preoccupied and didn't think about that at all. Moreover, he seemed to just want to find out information, which I am good at...
The aroma of milk and barbecue tickled Ulan's taste buds, and the golden crispy bread and apple pie were so tempting. Ulan would never cook at such an expensive place.
Griffith listened to the former adventurer lady with food in her mouth chattering about trivial matters, and then looked at Lahuaanna who was immersed in eating and occasionally glanced at him and Ulan with strange eyes, and said:
"In the next time, give Tina the information you heard about cultists and official movements, and I will arrange for her to collect your reports. As a reward, I will give you 12 silver coins every month.
If important information is verified, I will pay additional rewards."
Ulan and Lahuana's eyes both lit up. This was a considerable amount of remuneration, and it didn't take up time from work. It was an easy extra income.
Griffith took out some money and handed it to them, and then said: "Secondly, you have to select the smart ones from the children in the neighborhood, those wandering beggars, and report to me the information they collected. Select their first
One criterion is whether they can sneak into the military barracks, the town hall and the Church of Grace."
The two girls nodded immediately.
At least one of these two people and Tina is an informant of the Bureau of Investigation, and it may be all three, it doesn't matter. Once I have initially established an intelligence network of low-level citizens, I can cross-check their intelligence and identities.
.
The most urgent thing at the moment is that someone can collect for me the movements of the royal family, parliament, and the Holy See of the Gods while I am away from Beyeland. Someone must do this for me.
After Griffith finished giving instructions, Ulan immediately continued: "Recently, many wealthy people from the local and other provinces have come. I heard that the king and the Senate summoned them to a meeting to discuss raising taxes..."
At this time, Lahuaanna suddenly raised her hand tentatively.
"Sir Knight."
"you say."
"If you are looking for Sister Tina, I may know her whereabouts," Lahuana was obviously smarter than Ulan. She said cautiously and in the most tactful way she knew, "Tonight, there are some people from other provinces.
When a businessman holds a party, he needs to find some people to help him all night long. He invites the most beautiful girl, Sister Tina, well, generally, most of the time, that..."
"Tell me the address?" Griffith asked hurriedly.
He will accompany Sonia to an official meeting tomorrow, and he may encounter battles at any time during the night. Within the limited time, he must entrust the work to Tina and let her organize the people in the next time.
"Three streets away is Mr. Havel's house. He is a businessman from the provinces, a wealthy gentleman," Lavana said, "but it's almost curfew, and when you get there..."
"Let me take care of these things," Griffith stood up and walked outside. "You go home as soon as possible. If you are in danger, call the military police or the city defense army."
…
For several days, the north wind has frozen the ground hard. At dusk, piles of black clouds carrying snow flakes flew over from the north and continued to fall until dark.
Griffiths was wrapped in a cloak and walked through the deserted streets. Occasionally, the military police and city defense troops under curfew noticed him, but as soon as he saw the woolen uniforms of the Guards officers, he stopped and stopped trying to get out of the makeshift building.
Moved from the street whistle to the cold street.
From time to time, the shrill howls of wild cats, the cries of children, the curses of adults, or the rapid coughing of patients could be heard from time to time on the street shrouded in the cold night.
Suddenly, the world seemed to be at peace.
Griffith noticed that the nearby lights also disappeared, leaving only a seemingly endless long street under the falling snowflakes.
“It feels really quiet, there’s no one on the street, and you can’t see the lights of Mr. Havel’s mansion.
"I should be here by now."
Griffith said to himself. The black snow flakes suddenly became denser, the light became worse, and the surrounding scenery was as depressing as if it had entered a dark pipe.
Finally, he came to the end of the street. Here stood a building with a cold door like a monster's open mouth. On the left and right sides were strange-shaped roofs, comically sloping walls and rugged dead trees.
The door sign says——
"233 Baker Street B."
Perhaps it was because of the night and the light that Griffith thought all this was strange. However, he did not feel any dangerous hostility, so he suspected that he had lost his way and gone in the wrong direction.
So, he turned around and walked back along the way he came, to see if he had gone astray.
A quarter of an hour later, Griffith returned here again. The dark gate, hanging icy branches, and inexplicably high walls looked down at him from all directions.
No. 233B Baker Street, a series of numbers and letters connected together, like a long smiling face dangling in front of him.
The continuous snowflakes fall straight to the ground like a curtain, and at the same time shine dim reflections; it hides the appearance of various objects, and sprinkles a layer of ice moss on it; in this quiet and deep place buried by the cold
In the silence, people could only hear the vague and indescribable friction sound of falling snowflakes. Speaking of sound, it is better to say it is a feeling than the interlaced movement of fine dust that seems to fill the air and cover the earth.
Sweat broke out on Griffith's forehead. He was very sure that there was no fork in the road, but he was lost. At this time, the only explanation was that he was attacked.
He reached out to touch the mithril pendant given by Galadia. He had just told people that if he encountered danger, he would call for the military police and the city defense army. But brave soldiers could not deal with the unspeakable weirdness, so they could only ask for help.
The elf lady who is favored by the goddess of silver moon and starlight has nothing to hesitate to ask for help.
The strange thing is that the mithril pendant, which has always worked well, has no reaction at all.
This is not normal!
Griffith gritted his teeth, placed his left hand on the hilt of the sword, pulled out Judgment with his right hand, opened the hammer, and pushed the door in front of him.
"Zhiqua——"
The door opened inward with a heart-breaking sound as if it hadn't been opened in a century. At this moment, Griffith suddenly felt a strong wind coming from behind, howling and pushing him into the house.
go.
"Bang!"
The door suddenly closed behind him, and all the noise stopped. Griffith jumped up and hurriedly turned around to kick the door, only to find that the walls and door were like water, causing ripples, but he could not grab or touch them.
bump.
At the same time, a firelight lit up behind him, and he vaguely heard someone talking quietly. Griffith took a breath, bent his elbow and held the flintlock gun, and walked towards the reception room step by step.
Next to the warm fire, there is a magnificent main seat. Opposite the seat are three couches, which are surrounded by an arc like a meeting. Several well-dressed couples are sitting and talking quietly, and there are also
Some people were walking around restlessly, looking at each other curiously.
When they saw the cavalry officers coming from the corridor, they all raised their heads. A turbid light shone down from the skylight on the wall and fell right on the main seat, making it even more dazzling.
"He is here at last," said a gentleman. "The esteemed Earl of Hill, Lord Wizard Labienus, Mr. Ram of the Cotton Company, and Mr. Beble, the venerable shareholder of the Shipping Company, ladies and gentlemen, if
My eyes were not wrong in this dim light. The cavalry officer we have been waiting for has arrived and we can finally start."
These words caused a small commotion. Griffith noticed that everyone present seemed to have a slightly relieved smile on their faces.
They looked at him from all directions. The gentleman who just spoke respectfully pointed to the grand seat in the middle of the reception room:
"Mr. Officer, please sit down, we have been waiting for you for a long time."