In the early morning of the next day, despite the constant dissuasion of these imperial veterans, Allen and others continued on their way without hesitation.
Along the way, Tina chatted non-stop. Kevin was a good-natured person and could cooperate with her in chatting about some non-nutritious topics. They kept chatting all over the place. I wonder if it was because of what happened last night, but Allen was more friendly.
He was much more silent in the past, but William simply stopped talking, which made Tina very annoyed.
As we get closer and closer to Belgrade, the air is gradually filled with thick fog, the clouds in the sky are getting thicker and grayer, and the sunshine is a little sluggish. Allen knows that this is due to the influence of the shady scene, and this place is far away from Belgrade.
The territory of the Vampire Clan is only a few hundred kilometers away. The battle on the edge of the dark world and some past events once again came to Allen's mind.
The group of people continued walking, and suddenly, Tina shouted: "Look! What is that?"
Everyone looked around and saw vague shadows swaying in the thick fog in the distance, as if something was moving. Everyone reined up their horses and moved over quickly. When they got a little closer, they discovered that it was a carriage.
Moving slowly, the direction is also heading towards Belgrade.
Everyone looked at each other, and Kevin took the lead: "Let's go! Let's chase him and take a look."
A group of four people raised their whips and galloped towards the carriage.
This is a medium-sized carriage composed of two horses. The carriage is simple and has nothing special about it. The body of the carriage is made of simple wooden boards and the workmanship is slightly rough. The open shed contains more than a dozen bags of flour, some grains, fruits and vegetables.
Pickled dried meat, as well as some daily necessities such as bottles and cans. Obviously, this is a very common freight carriage that can be seen everywhere in the empire.
The driver was a middle-aged man, who looked to be a certain age. He had a thick build, wore a wide-brimmed straw hat, had a beard on his face, and was dressed plainly. He looked like an ordinary farmer or merchant.
"Hello! This is my uncle." Tina first stepped forward to say hello.
When the coachman saw Tina, he responded with a smile: "Hello, who are you?"
"Uncle, are you going to Belgrade?" Kevin stepped forward and asked.
"Yeah. I went out to buy some food a few days ago, and I'm getting ready to go back now." The middle-aged uncle said with a smile.
"Huh? Uncle, are you a resident of Belgrade?" Tina asked in surprise. This was the first time that Allen and others met a local who claimed to be Belgrade.
"Yes. That's my hometown." The middle-aged uncle responded: "It's so foggy around Belgrade that it's almost impossible to grow crops, so someone always needs to go out to buy some and bring them back to the city to sell. That's what I do.
.”
Everyone looked at each other, puzzled. There was nothing wrong with this uncle from head to toe. He looked no different from the peasant business travelers in the empire. However, what were the rumors from the business travelers outside and the imperial soldiers on the border?
?
"Uncle, I heard from some business travelers that people who enter Belgrade can never come out again. What's going on?" Tina couldn't help but asked.
Allen frowned slightly when he saw Tina asking questions so quickly. He should have tried more before asking.
Who would have thought that the middle-aged coachman actually said after hearing this: "What? Is there such a thing?" He looked weird, looking at Allen and others as if they were looking at fools. This expression did not look like he was pretending at all.
of.
"But there are indeed many people..." Tina wanted to ask again, but Allen stopped her.
"Uncle, can you describe Belgrade? We have never been there and are just trying to see it." Alan asked.
"Okay, I was born in Belgrade. After living in Belgrade for decades, there is nothing I am not familiar with." The middle-aged coachman said with a hearty smile.
"Really? What does this city look like?" Kevin also asked, and he also felt that something was wrong.
"Belgrade, it's paradise! Oh, no! It's paradise!" said the middle-aged coachman, looking a little intoxicated and feeling like he was living a very happy life.
"Paradise?" Allen was even more surprised. This description was a bit strange. It was not strange for the locals to praise their hometown, but to be honest, it was common for the people in the Holy Roman Empire to be oppressed by nobles.
Generally speaking, people's happiness index is not high. But the people in front of them seem to be very different.
"What kind of paradise is it?" Tina also asked curiously, feeling greatly surprised.
"A paradise like heaven!" said the middle-aged coachman. At the same time, he continued with an admiring look: "Our Lord of the City is a great benevolent man. He usually neither collects taxes nor bullies the people. There is a shortage of food in the city.
, sometimes they even directly subsidize gold and silver for us to go out and purchase.”
"What? There is such a good thing?"
Allen and others look at me and I look at you. Everyone feels something is wrong! This is simply against common sense. Even if there are such kind-hearted nobles, such a move is obviously a waste of money and will soon be unsustainable.
"More than that!" the middle-aged coachman continued: "I have two daughters. The eldest daughter is twenty-three. She just gave birth to a grandson the year before last. The Lord of the City even gave me a reward of one hundred gold coins! The younger daughter is eighteen this year.
Now that I'm 30 years old, I've reached the age of getting married. I wonder what other rewards the Lord of the City will give me?"
"One hundred gold coins!" Tina shouted: "Why is this?" One hundred gold coins is not a small amount. You must know that the salary of ordinary workers in the empire is only ten to twenty gold coins a year, and you can buy it with fifty gold coins.
A serf! Tina is obviously very sensitive to money.
"Haha. This is another virtuous policy of the city lord! Anyone who gets married and has children in the city will be rewarded." The middle-aged uncle said with a smile, obviously admiring his hometown very much.
"Tina, you can make money by giving birth to children." William, who didn't speak much, suddenly interrupted at this time.
"Get out!!!" Tina fired back angrily.
"As a result, won't the city's population explode?" Allen asked. If the previous measures can be said to be generous by the city lord, the latter childbirth reward is different. This is obviously a meeting.
Policies that have a significant impact on society.
"Alas... In fact, it is precisely because there are fewer people in the city that the city lord encourages people to have children." The middle-aged uncle sighed. At this time, he was not as confident as before.
"Why is this?" Kevin also asked. Belgrade is really weird. If it really had such good conditions, wouldn't everyone flock here?
"I don't know!" The middle-aged coachman looked a little melancholy, paused, and then said: "I vaguely remember that there were a lot of people when I was a child, but then there were fewer and fewer people. Especially in recent years, there have been more and more outsiders.
Less. I’m very happy to see you people coming! When we get to the city, you will stay at my house and I will treat you well! Haha!”
The middle-aged coachman became more and more enthusiastic as he talked.
Allen and others became more confused. Doesn't the decrease in the foreign population correspond to the previous rumors of disappearances? This coachman is so strange, and the most important thing is that Allen and others took turns to talk to this coachman from different angles, completely
There was no fault or pretense. It was obvious that the coachman was describing everything he knew without any deception. However, everything the coachman described was strange and even a little ridiculous...
The four of them looked at each other, their doubts not diminishing but increasing. Now they wanted to reveal the secret as soon as possible, so they followed the carriage silently and continued to move forward.
night...
A group of people rested around the campfire near the carriage. They could only camp tonight. Fortunately, Allen and others were experienced and quickly set up the tent skillfully. In the past, when they went out to perform missions, they also lived in such a wild life.
I have experienced a lot. At this time, the middle-aged coachman sat on the stone, picked up a morin fiddle, and started humming a tune. The sound of the fiddle was pleasant, and a pastoral tune came from afar. The scene was warm and tranquil, and there was a lingering atmosphere.
An authentic country atmosphere.
However, Allen and others did not have much leisure time. At this time, they were whispering around the fire and exchanging their opinions.
"I don't think this uncle told any lies. He doesn't look like he's acting," Tina said seriously.
"However, there must be a ghost in this Belgrade." Allen said.
"It's very abnormal." William said.
"No matter what, when we get to Belgrade, the truth will naturally be revealed." Kevin said cheerfully: "However, this seems to be somewhat deviated from the blood servant chaos we originally wanted to investigate."
"I have a hunch, I think this will be a bigger whirlpool." Allen said seriously, he had a vague feeling of badness.
"Okay, okay, let's go to bed early and rest. We should be able to enter the city tomorrow afternoon. We'll talk about it after we get in." Tina was very optimistic.
So, after everyone chatted for a while, they fell asleep.