OBS Chapter 2546: Crystal Light
Chapter 2546: Crystal Light
Chapter 2546: Crystal Light
Hearing what Xia De said, the tall and strong female bartender snorted:
"People who drink juice like 'White Flower Fruit Brew' should stay away from alcohol. Did that pointy-eared friend finally send you to pick it up? I thought she didn't want this stuff anymore."
After that, she asked Xia De to wait for a moment, left the counter and went up the stairs to the second floor. Not long after, she came back with a cloth bag, which contained a stone slab wrapped in a light yellow silk cloth.
Because she wanted to inspect the goods, she asked Shade to put on gloves and inspect the stone slab. However, this was not a special item and did not contain any elements. The value of this "antique" was that the ancient fairy tale "Crystal Light" was engraved on both sides of the stone slab:
[A long time ago, under the protection of the trees, the ancient elves lived happily together in the forest. One day, a young elf girl from the tribe was patrolling alone in the forest and met a traveling merchant who was chased by a wild wolf.
The elf girl saved the merchant, and the merchant gave her a beautiful crystal earring as a thank you. After returning home, the elf girl was surprised to find that the crystal allowed her to see farther and run faster. So the next day she went to find the merchant again to express her gratitude. The merchant, who still did not leave the forest, asked the elf girl if she needed more magical goods, but she would have to pay for it.
So, the naive elf girl first obtained a crystal necklace that made her smarter at the cost of "hunting a wild boar", and then obtained a crystal bracelet that made her more beautiful at the cost of "cutting down a small piece of woodland".
More and more crystals came into the hands of the elf girl through transactions, and she paid a higher and higher price for them. Those eternal crystals that could withstand the erosion of time, shining with charming light, unknowingly blinded her eyes with greed and desire, and buried her originally kind and innocent heart.
One day, long after, on a night no one can remember, the elves massacred their own village in order to obtain more crystals and gain the power of eternal youth.
So the traveling merchant smiled and turned her into an eternal crystal statue, letting her stand in the center of the forest. Then he left and went to look for his next trading partner.
This fairy tale is obviously not a story brought by a stranger from his hometown. This kind of classic fairy tale with admonitions, warnings and reminders was not uncommon in the past. The value of this fairy tale lies in the fact that it is a story about elves.
Therefore, although it is just an ordinary antique, this stone tablet is indeed very useful to the ring wizard. Moreover, although both sides have the same story, one side is the human language of the Fifth Age, and the other side is the ancient Elvish language, so its research value is even greater.
There was no problem with the stone slab. After inspecting it, Xia De was not in a hurry to leave. Instead, he followed the usual practice and posted a long-term commission to purchase special coins in the black market of this new city.
It’s a pity that maybe there are not many local ring warlocks, so there are currently no special coins for sale here.
When Shad tentatively asked the female bartender about the local ring wizard organization, she helped Shad confirm that members of the "Forest Hermit Group" did occasionally appear in Vista City, but those "hermits" lived in the woods all year round, and they only sent people into the city when replenishing supplies.
Therefore, Shad wanted to contact these people and try to find clues from them. Not only the clues from Miss Danister, but also the clues from the astrologer a hundred years ago were all temporarily unsuccessful.
"What? You want to know how the city is doing recently? What else can it be? Everything is fine. As for whether you want to know if there are any strange things happening here in the past, well, there are indeed some things I can tell you."
The female bartender neatly accepted the one-kroner coin that Shade pushed to her, poured Shade a glass of beer, and motioned for Shade to sit down outside the counter and talk:
"There are so many secrets in Vista Forest. When it was still Riverwood Town, the population was relatively small and there weren't many local ring sorcerers. Therefore, only some specious rumors and messages were left behind from that era."
"It doesn't matter. I'm just interested in this kind of thing. What are they?"
He sat down and confirmed that the female bartender in front of him only had six rings before taking off the mask to reveal his disguised face.
There were three kerosene lamps hanging above the counter, and the bright yellow light illuminated the handsome northern-looking face. The female bartender raised her eyebrows and her voice suddenly became a little softer:
"It is rumored that a giant dragon appeared in this area several hundred years ago. The dragon's breath destroyed a large area of forest. This is why the trees in the forest southwest of Ximu Town are relatively sparse, so the city is expanding towards that direction."
"Another dragon?"
Xia De put down his mask, picked up the glass of wine and took a sip, then put it aside and asked with a smile:
"I mean, it can't be a dragon flying from Moon Bay, right?"
The female bartender was dazed by his smile, and her eyes wandered:
"That's hard to say. Now everyone knows that there are many dragons in Yuewan. I think those big coastal cities are full of monsters and cultists. They are not as stable as our place."
"Besides dragons, are there any other sightings of alien creatures here? For example, dwarves, elves, giants, blood-sucking creatures, etc."
He continued to ask with a smile, and the female bartender immediately shook her head:
"There are too many stories like this, but don't you want to know the big things that happened here?"
"Yes."
"I won't tell anyone else, but this is a story I heard before: When this city was still called 'Riverwood Town', about two or three hundred years ago, it was said that..."
She lowered her voice:
"It is said that an ancient evil spirit demon appeared in the area at that time. Because the town was too small at the time, the priests and church ring warlocks in the local church were not strong. The accident at that time almost caused the destruction of the entire town. Fortunately, the matter was resolved smoothly later."
"Devil~"
Xia De couldn't help but be amazed:
"I've read about this weird thing in a book. For an ordinary small town, it would really be a disaster."
"Yes, people say that thing escaped from the ancient ruins in the woods. Although there are no eyewitnesses to that incident in this era, the truth of the demon rumor is definitely much more real than the dragon I just mentioned."
She rested one hand on the countertop and seemed to enjoy chatting with Shade:
"I think a stranger like you coming here is not just to visit friends. I have to warn you not to be too interested in this kind of thing. It will cause trouble for everyone."
"Don't worry, I'm not that curious. But stories about demons and dragons are just like rumors imagined by ordinary people. Has there ever been a major event in history that has been accurately recorded? Or has Riverwood Town always been peaceful?"
"This is indeed an incident, but it happened a hundred years ago, around 1760 in the Common Calendar. At that time, a special astronomical phenomenon occurred with Ximu Town as the center, and the entire night sky was dyed red by the blood-red moon.
This happened a century ago, so although the church tried desperately to cover it up, most of the local ring sorcerers have heard about it. I can't tell exactly what happened at the time, but I only know that the abnormality of the blood moon and the blood-red starry sky lasted for about half an hour, causing great damage to Ximu Town. "
She yawned without caring about her image, but still glanced at Xia De secretly:
"Other than that, the local area has always been peaceful. Occasionally, children or hunters who enter the woods will disappear, and people will say that the woods will eat people; or occasionally strange noises of unknown origin will be heard in Creekwood Town and Vista Woods, or people will see strange phantoms, but this is also very common.
We are a music city, there are not so many big things here, this is all I know. "
Shade nodded:
"I noticed that most of the things you mentioned happened during the Riverwood era. Didn't anything happen here during the period when the city began to transform from a lumberjack town to a real big city?"
"It depends on how you define a big event. Of course there are things like relics going out of control, but that happens everywhere. Natural disasters also happen occasionally, but the last earthquake was more than 30 years ago.
Sir, cities like Tobesk, Moon Bay, and Green Lake are few in number after all. Vista is very peaceful. We don’t have so many bad guys and lunatics here. People believe that this forest has magical power that can repel bad things. "
You can see that the female bartender seemed a little proud when she said this. She must be a local.
Seeing that Xia De nodded and did not continue to ask, she looked at the man's handsome face and reminded him:
"But you came at the right time. Vista City holds music festivals of all sizes every autumn. Musicians from all over the country, and even from Delarion, gather here during this season. They regard 'playing in Vista City's Golden Music Hall' as the highest honor for musicians."
Shade also knew the "Vestal Golden Music Hall", which was the largest, most luxuriously decorated and most professional concert hall in the entire central part of the Old Continent.
It is not located in the old "Riverwood Town", but an abandoned temple building outside of the original town. More than 50 years ago, musicians who were persecuted by the Carsenrick political movement and fled to Riverwood Town would gather in the abandoned temple outside the town to play in their spare time because they were worried about disturbing the lives of the townspeople. Over time, the nameless temple became more and more famous in the local area.
At that time, Ximu Town happened to be in the stage of transformation into Vista City. Therefore, during the process of urban expansion, the sturdy old temple was transformed into the magnificent "Golden Music Hall" today.
(End of this chapter)