On the way to the Principality of Tre, Steven was not in a hurry. He enjoyed the leisure and delicious food that he could not enjoy in his previous life, and gradually approached the mountainous area on the border of the Principality of Ferreira and the Principality of Tre, where he completely entered the
In the wilderness, there are no traces of human beings except dirt roads.
Looking at the continuous mountains ahead, Steven rode into the mountains, climbed over the mountains and entered the Principality of Trey.
Although the mountains in this mountainous area were not too steep, he still traveled along the dirt road. The road wound around the valley. Although it was not a straight line, he could ride a chestnut horse and walk leisurely without having to dismount.
It took him nearly ten days to pass through the mountains and enter the Principality of Tre.
It was almost dusk when we walked out of the mountainous area. It was getting late and the sun was about to set on the mountain behind. Steven, who had just hunted a hare on the hillside, was about to find a place to camp when he noticed thick smoke rising from a fire in the distance.
His current location was on a hillside just out of the mountainous area. The thick smoke rising a few kilometers away should be a farm. There was a small town further ahead, not far from the city of Santa Vera.
Steven rode towards the burning farm. He was going to help the farmer put out the flames and stay overnight.
He drove the chestnut horse galloping on the grassland, turning from time to time to avoid the dense bushes. The grass blades crushed by the horse's hooves rose high behind him. As the distance got closer and closer, Steven frowned!
The fire started not in the haystacks or stables on the farm, but in all the buildings on the farm!
This is very unusual!
Moreover, Steven's keen sense did not detect the figure of the farm owner.
Soon after, he came to the farm's fence. The fence gate was open. He rode his horse into the farm's drying yard. Opposite, a two-story wooden building dozens of meters away had collapsed in the raging fire. Several buildings nearby had collapsed.
Most of the stables and warehouses were also burned down, and you can still feel the scorching heat in the drying yard.
After Steven dismounted, he walked towards the collapsed wooden building. The fire in the wooden building illuminated several figures lying on the drying ground.
He came nearby and saw four people lying on the ground. They looked like they were the farmer's family, the farmer and the woman next to him. About ten meters away from them was a teenage boy, and next to the boy was an old woman.
They all died after being pierced through the chest with a sharp sword! The ground under their bodies was stained dark red with blood and had dried up.
Steven turned the farmer's body over. The middle-aged man's mouth was wide open under his thick beard. He seemed to be shouting something before he died. His clothes were messy and torn in some places. He must have been beaten before he died.
.
Steven stood up. Judging from the sword wounds on the farmer's body, the sharp sword pierced the heart directly from the chest. One sword was fatal. The murderer should be a professional warrior or a professional killer. An ordinary farmer deserves to be killed by a professional.
Are you targeting him? Doubts suddenly arose in his mind.
Steven stood there in silence for a while, then walked back and forth in the drying field a few times to check the situation on the drying field and on the ground. There was nothing unusual except for a dozen pieces of wheat straw piled together on the drying field.
But he found some traces on the ground.
Those were the imprints of many horses' hoofs. They were definitely not the imprints left by horses on the farm. The depth of these hoofprints in the soil was the same as that of my chestnut horse. It was only when it was carrying a certain amount of weight that it left such hoofprints.
Moreover, these hoof prints showed that they had at least ten horses and had stayed in the drying yard for a long time.
Steven decided to bury the farmer's family first and then track down the murderer. There were wolves roaming in the mountains, and he was afraid that wild wolves would come and drag away the bodies in the middle of the night.
He found a cart and shovel that were not burned by the warehouse, put the bodies of the farmer's family on the cart, and pulled down the burial place behind the wooden building.
There was already a new tomb in the burial place with a wooden tombstone. It seemed that someone had been buried not long ago. Steven approached the wooden sign and there was a line of text engraved on it: The Tomb of Friar Martin.
Steven dug several pits in the twilight of sunset and buried the farmer's family. Without the names of the family, he had to set up a few wooden sticks in front of the grave.
He stood in front of the tomb, took off his hat, and observed a few minutes of silence. Then he returned to the drying yard, carefully observed the marks left on the ground, and then walked out of the farm fence along the horse hoof prints. He closed the fence gate and got on his horse to head into the twilight wilderness.
...
At this time, on the dirt road from Steven's farm to the city of Santa Vera, there was a group of knights in black combat uniforms galloping on horseback. They all carried long swords and crossbows, and strapped to the backs of the horses were
Packing equipment for long-distance travel, they had already arrived near Kamo Town, less than 1 kilometer away from entering the town.
The leading knight in black pulled the reins of his horse and slowed down, and the knights behind him also slowed down. The knight behind him accelerated and came to the leading knight and asked: "Sir! Aren't we entering Camo Town?"
The leading knight's voice was cold: "Use your brain! A group of knights swarmed into Camo Town and stayed in the tavern?! Will the police detectives who come to investigate the farm murder case tomorrow or the day after tomorrow miss this obvious clue?!"
The knight who asked the question bowed his head and apologized: "I'm sorry! Sir! It was my mistake!"
The leading knight did not scold him any more and directly ordered: "Avoid the town of Camo! In two hours we will find a campsite in the wilderness. We have been walking in the wilderness for the past two days until we enter the city of Santa Vera!"
"Yes! Sir!" the knight in black lowered his head and said.
Then the group of knights turned their horses' heads, galloped into the grass beside the road, and rushed into the wilderness in the direction of Santa Vera City...
Steven followed the hoof prints left by the drying yard to a road not far away. The dirt on the road was covered with thick dust because it hadn't rained for several days, and the horse hoof prints disappeared into various messy traces.
, can no longer be seen, but the vague traces before getting on the highway still point to the town of Kamo, about ten kilometers away.
Steven galloped, and logically the murderers should have entered Camo Town. If they stayed overnight in the town, he would be able to find them!
Camo Town is a small town. The small square in the center is deserted at night. Next to the square is a tavern. The tavern is brightly lit and full of people, making it very lively.
After tying the chestnut horse to the stable next to the tavern, Steven walked over and opened the wooden door of the tavern. Amid the probing gazes from all around, he walked to the bar and asked the bartender who raised his head: "Are there any guest rooms? I want one."
Here’s another glass of beer.”
Taking the wine glass placed on the table by the bartender, Steven asked again: "Is your pub the only one in this town? Are there any others?"
The bartender shook his head and said: "No, there's only one of us. The town of Camo is so big, how can two pubs still do business?"
Steven asked again: "Have I had any guests staying before? You know, it's hard to sleep well at night if there are too many people staying!"
Bartender: "You can rest assured! Sir! You are the only one who has opened the room so far! You should be able to have a good sleep tonight! In addition, we have services here that can help you sleep better! If you need it, let us know at any time.
I!"
"No! Thank you! I just want to go to bed right away!" Steven rejected the bartender's suggestion, drank the beer in his glass, put a dozen copper orders on the table, took the key and turned towards the stairs.