Mechanical Alchemist

Shanyin Country is an island country composed of hundreds of islands.

Honshu Island has a large area, with Izumo, Akadao, Owari, Mikawa, Nagano, and Qiuyuan. Many vassal states.

It is said that it is a feudal state, but its territory is actually not large. Three or two feudal states are roughly equivalent to a county in Luying.

The lord is called the feudal lord, usually also called a daimyo, which is similar to being a prince. They are independent of each other and conquer each other, and they are all loyal to the royal family in name.

God granted the royal family "God Fushi", the capital is in Edo.

"Old Man Rune" is the shogun with great power, almost the first person under the imperial power. This guy's life is also full of legends, from a small feudal lord into the family, and then step by step to the present.

This was the information Su Lun had learned about Shanyin Kingdom before.

From the pirate city to Shanyin Country, usually take the sea route into the inland river, change to a small boat and go directly to Nagano, and then go to Edo Castle by land.

Now the ships of their Ninth Fleet were scuttled in the sea before entering the inland river, so they could only go by land.

On the winding mountain road, the beams of alchemy lamps and torches illuminated a long fire dragon.

There were snowflakes floating in the sky, and a thick layer of white snow had already accumulated on the side of the road.

Under the moonlight, it is covered in silver.

"Bah! I met some kind of monster and sank the boat as soon as I came here. It's really fucking unlucky."

"It's good that it's not far from the shore, otherwise we'll be in big trouble."

"The evil fire just now was too frighteningly terrifying. If people say it's gone, it's gone. I haven't figured out what's going on until now."

"Yeah, I've heard about the monsters in Shanyin Country before, but it's rare to see them. I didn't expect such bad luck, but we just met them."

"."

The six or seven hundred people of the Ninth Fleet had just come out of the sea, shivering, shivering, and walking cursingly.

In the crowd, Su Lun listened to the whispers of the crowd, and his mind was racing.

Is it really because the filth was thrown into the sea and the monster was offended?

Obviously not that simple.

There should be someone stopping them from going to Shanyin Country.

Those captains and mates seemed to have guessed something was wrong, but the big pirate group had an obligation to take money.

Now that something is wrong, I can only bite the bullet and move on.

The group walked a few kilometers, and the guide Song Yongxiu who was walking in the front suddenly spoke again, his attitude was still extremely humble, "Master Hands, there is a village in the mountain in front, called 'Casting Sword Village'. We have There are some special customs, and some small places will enshrine monsters for protection and safety. Therefore, no matter what strange sacrificial behaviors you see this time, adults, please be sure to ignore those rural people and try not to touch some taboos. Otherwise, if you offend the monster, you will cause a lot of trouble."

"."

"Tea Beard" Hanz listened, the corners of his eyes twitched slightly.

If it was before, he would probably not take it seriously.

But just after experiencing the shipwreck, he no longer dared to be careless.

He even regretted that he didn't listen to the guide's advice and offended the monster, which resulted in a heavy loss, so he said to the people behind him, "Did you hear that? Come to me honestly after you enter the village, don't mess around like that." Something happened. Tomorrow morning, we will continue on our way!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Everyone replied listlessly that they had just encountered a big change, and no one wanted to cause more trouble.

But when Su Lun, who was at the tail of the team, heard what the guide said, his mind became active.

Worshiping monsters?

He has been thinking about how the monster in Shanyin Kingdom came to be.

Warcraft, sea monsters, and even aberrations can all be traced back to their origins.

But this "monster" is special.

They are like rootless duckweed, which should only appear in legends and stories, but suddenly appear in reality.

Food chains, ecological chains, and reproductive chains are all difficult to explain with conventional principles.

It gives people the feeling that it seems to have emerged out of thin air from myths and legends.

After thinking hard to no avail, Su Lun continued to follow the large army.

Not long after, they turned over a mountain col, and suddenly saw a small village.

There are not very bright lights in the village, which look like oil lamps and firewood. There was a layer of snow on the roof, and smoke was still rising from the chimney.

When the pirates of the Ninth Fleet saw the village, they suddenly became excited.

Not only did he have a place to stay, but more importantly, he saw living people, and the fear of being dominated by monsters dissipated a lot.

"Tea Beard" Hands waved his hand and said, "Brothers, find a farmer to live in by yourself, and each team will arrange a sentry post. Let's start tomorrow morning!"

After a pause, he thought of something, and warned again: "We are not here to rob this time, remember to stay in the room honestly, don't mess around!"

"Alright, Captain!"

"Understood, boss."

"Hahaha, I finally have a place to stay."

Everyone responded in unison, they couldn't wait to go to the house to enjoy the fire and warm their frozen bodies.

The pirates have no military discipline at all, so a group of people swarmed down.

Whoever can snatch a good house will own it.

Su Lun was still carrying the assigned individual artillery on his shoulders. He walked unhappily and fell behind the team.

When he passed by the mountain pass, he was looking at the pirates whose guide Song Yongxiu was trying to persuade them repeatedly not to touch some taboos.

Seeing that there was no one in the team, the guide followed suit.

Seeing him walking beside her, Su Lun asked casually, "Mr. Guide, this place is called 'Sword Forging Village'. Is there something there?"

Yongxiu glanced at Su Lun, bowed in fear and said, "I can't afford to be an adult 'Mr.'. You can just call me the young Yongxiu."

He lowered his head and said: "We are now in the 'Izumo' territory. This area is rich in black iron ore. It has also produced good swords since ancient times. Many villages near here used to make a living from mining and forging weapons. This village is also . Later, due to some accidents, the village fell into decline."

"oh"

Su Lun was taken aback.

I wanted to ask a few more questions, but I didn't expect that Yongxiu quietly fell to the end and didn't follow up.

Su Lun glanced at the guy, thought flashed across his eyes, and muttered in his heart: "The fleet's itinerary is arranged by the guide, if anyone really wants to stop this team from going to Edo Castle to collect taxes, this guy is very suspicious. "

But there was nothing special in the soul perception, and he didn't think about it any more.

There are no more than a hundred households with this sword casting. When Su Lun came, the larger and better houses had already been taken by those powerful pirates.

Because people who go to Edo usually go by water, almost no outsiders will come to this village. Those villagers who had never seen outsiders looked very panicked, and carefully served the group of pirates with the word "evil" written on their faces.

The nautical food is not bad, but the food is very monotonous, mostly mashed potatoes as the main food. The pirates who had eaten dry food for a few days were happily catching chickens and ducks in the cages, and the village was full of chickens and dogs.

Fortunately, the captains of each team had greeted them in advance, and there was no trouble.

Su Lun was carrying the cannon and the camouflaged rune black umbrella, and the black crow was very quiet on his shoulders, and he didn't seem to be in any danger.

But he was not careless, walked all the way, swept all the way, carefully observing every corner of the village.

After walking a few steps, Su Lun found that the houses in the village were all similar in shape. But there is only one building that looks like an ancestral hall, which is very delicately repaired.

Taking the opportunity of looking for a house, Su Lun walked over. After looking at it, he found that the ancestral hall was flickering with dim yellow candlelight, and what was enshrined on the table was not a tablet, but a "sword-like object". Because of the cloth strips wrapped like prayer flags, the whole picture of the sword cannot be seen clearly.

It is not surprising that a village that originally made a living from making swords worshiped swords, but Su Lun glanced at it, and an imperceptible strangeness flashed across his expression.

"Huh"

There was a light sigh in my heart.

Because, from the "sword-like object", he sensed a strange wave of soul.

"A monster, or the spirit of the sword?"

Su Lun thought about it.

Either way, something didn't feel right to him.

I won’t say it’s a monster. The guide also reminded me that these villagers will worship monsters.

It is not surprising that there will be spiritual fluctuations of monsters in the ancestral hall.

But if it is a sword with a spirit, then it is probably a famous weapon at the level of "Twelve Excellent Works and Famous Swords". How could it appear in this kind of village where the villagers are all ordinary people? No one came to get it?

It seems that the previous warning from the guide worked, and there were no pirates to bother the ancestral hall.

Su Lun didn't intend to be troublesome, so after taking a look, he walked straight to the end of the village.

There were people in the cottages along the way, and at the end, they found a house made of thatch and mud walls.

This Zhujian Village is already very poor, but this family looks extremely poor.

Even the pirates are so poor that they don't want to settle down.

The window paper was broken and holes were not pasted with new paper, but firewood piles were used to block it.

There was no light in the room, so it looked cold.

The other houses were crowded with seven or eight pirates, but there was none in this one. Before Su Lun came, he also saw a few pirates coming, but after entering the room to look, he left cursing and went to the next room to squeeze.

Su Lun felt that there were fewer people, it was clean and no one disturbed.

He walked in and greeted the frightened old man at the door: "Excuse me, old man. I want to stay at your house for one night."

In the perception of the soul, apart from the old man and the half-child at the door, there is another person in the room. It seemed to be hidden on purpose, holding his breath, and has not made any movement.

But Su Lun didn't care, as long as there is a tile to block the wind and snow.

The old man watched Su Lun enter the room, and dared not refuse. He bowed and saluted, and explained in fear: "There is no heat resistance in the house, so I am afraid that adults will not be used to it."

Su Lun didn't mind, "It doesn't matter."

The old man watched people come in, but he didn't dare to show any dissatisfaction. He greeted the innocent and curious boy at the door, and shouted, "Yoshino, go and boil some water for this lord."

"oh."

The boy went into the house in response.

Just as Su Lun was about to enter the house, the team leader outside the door saw him and shouted: "Johnny, you and Sharp are on guard at midnight!"

The night post works in three shifts, but the midnight post is cold and sleepy, which is a drudgery.

Usually it's the bad guys in the pirate company who get their turn.

Su Lun also felt that it didn't matter, and responded, "Okay!"

Sharp's reluctant response came from the next room, "Oh."

The house is not big, just three rooms.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the house is barren, except for an old table and two bamboo chairs, there is nothing that can be considered as furniture. There are hay piles everywhere in the house, which are firewood reserves and are also used to block the wind.

Su Lun walked in, no one was causing trouble, so he deliberately avoided the room where people were hiding.

The old man pointed to the main house, and said with a humble face: "My lord, you don't mind, I will rest here tonight."

The bed was covered with thick straw, and there was only a thin blue blanket. In this windy and snowy day, people could not feel the slightest temperature.

Su Lun frowned.

It's not that I feel uncomfortable living in it, but that this kind of house with air leaks everywhere, how can the three of them spend the winter in this house?

There is only this one bed in the house, and the other room where people are hiding is the firewood room.

In other words, Su Lun fell asleep on the bed, and the old man and the other two could only spend the night in the pyre.

He looked at it and sighed slightly, feeling a little guilty for troubling others.

At this time, the child who was going to boil the water before also walked in cautiously holding a porcelain bowl.

The bowl was steaming.

The old man took it and handed it to Su Lun, with a nervous smile on his face: "I made you laugh. There are no cups or tea leaves at home, so I can only put some boiling water in a porcelain bowl. I have not taken good care of you."

Su Lun looked at the cracked porcelain bowl, and probably guessed that there might be no good porcelain bowl in this house.

He didn't mind at all, took a sip and said, "Thank you."

The warm boiling water flowed down the throat into the stomach, and Su Lun felt uncomfortable.

It has been a long time since I traveled to this world, and I have seen many poor and suffering people. But never once did he feel in a bad mood like tonight.

Are human beings sympathetic to the weak nature?

Or do you think the world could be a better place?

Su Lun didn't know.

Just at the moment of thinking, when he turned his head, the old man and the young man stood there cautiously, as if they didn't dare to leave without him, the "adult", speaking.

Su Lun saw the baggy clothes on the young man and asked, "The clothes don't seem to fit?"

It looks like a robe, or a long gown, white with starch, and full of patches.

The stitching is very rough, it doesn't look like a woman's handiwork, but probably an old man's handwriting.

Looking down, the shoes under his feet were still exposed, purple from the cold.

The young man seemed a little timid, and he didn't dare to speak when he heard the question.

After hearing this, the old man smiled wryly and said, "My lord, this dress was changed from the old man's. It's not that it doesn't fit well. It's just that it's used as a dress during the day and a quilt at night. It's better to make it bigger."

"oh."

Su Lun looked at it and said something lightly.

He actually guessed that he didn't see a quilt on the bed before.

Without further ado, he took out some clothes and shoes from the storage ring, and handed them out, "These old clothes are not worth much, so I'll just treat them as my hostess."

Seeing his actions, the old and the young were not only displeased, but immediately knelt down on the ground, even more terrified: "My lord, it is an honor for the Xiaochi family to come to your house as a guest, and I absolutely dare not accept your things."

For these villagers who have never been out of the mountain village, the foreign pirates are probably very "big shots".

Don't offend.

Su Lun put the clothes on the bed, and said lightly, "Take it."

He was afraid that the two of them would be frightened, and wanted to find some topics to ease the atmosphere. Suddenly he thought of something, and he casually said some light-hearted topics: "I also knew a girl named Koike before, who happened to be from Izumo. I don't know if you know each other. Well, her name is 'Koike Chehei'."

This is the geisha I met at the "Naganoya Geisha House", and Su Lun has a good impression.

Hearing this, the boy was startled suddenly, and couldn't help but said, "My sister's name is also Cheping!"

Su Lun thought it might be the same name, and said, "I met her in the Golden City. She is a geisha."

The boy's eyes lit up, and he said again: "My sister is also a Kabuki in Edo!"

This said, Su Lun also thought it was a coincidence that this was probably the home of Teppei Koike.

Hearing this, the old man couldn't help but excitedly said: "My lord, have you seen the little girl? Is she okay now? Cough cough."

He couldn't help coughing twice.

From the sound of coughing, Su Lun heard that the old man had a serious problem with his lungs, like pneumoconiosis.

He said: "Very good. She is already a very good geisha in the Nagano house in the Golden City."

Hearing this, the expression on the old man's face finally saw a gleam of joy, as if he was relieved to hear the news he had waited for a long time, "She's doing well, that's all."

In Shanyin Country, the status of geisha is not low.

But usually the birth of geisha is very miserable, most of them are sold to little girls in geisha halls from poor families.

After selling, you can no longer contact the family.

Su Lun said that he knew Koike Cheping, and the old man's speech was not as lively as before, and he could chat a few words.

"I had a problem with mines before, iron powder was inhaled into the lungs. I had tuberculosis and had no energy, so the mine owner refused to let me go to the mine. And when Yoshino was born eight years ago, his mother died of dystocia. The family completely cut off their income. , had no choice but to sell Teppei."

"Master Yu Te is very kind. He gave us a settling allowance and gave us a lot of help. It's a pity that the old man is too stupid to be cheated by the rogue who came to the village."

"."

After chatting for a few words, Su Lun also learned about the situation of Xiaochi's family.

It was very sad to hear.

Shanyin Country is already poor, and this is really the kind of family where several generations have been poor.

But what is slightly strange is that when Su Lun heard the old man talk about "Master Yute", there was an almost fanatical adoration on Su Lun's face.

What is the charm of Mite Yahime, who is said to be "the most beautiful girl in the world", so that people will worship him so much? (It's not 'Mitarai' surname, don't be serious)

Probably because he thought that Su Lun wasn't that scary, when he was chatting, the black head who hid in the firewood room also sneaked out to have a look. It was a fairly handsome little girl, about thirteen or fourteen years old.

Su Lun's night vision ability is very good, but he also pretended not to see.

He made the young man named Yoshino wear the clothes he gave him, and gave the old man a healing potion, which could not cure the lung disease, but he could live for a few more years.

Chatting and chatting, this family finally saw expressions other than panic on their faces.

The atmosphere also gradually became more harmonious.

Su Lun was very interested in the monsters in Shanyin Country and wanted to ask the locals about them. Thinking about it, I told the experience of meeting [Shiranui] and [Kappa] before.

The old man also said something he knew.

Monsters have a very special meaning to the Shanyin people. They are scary and respectable, but they often protect them.

This statement is similar to what was written in Strange Tales, and Su Lun didn't get much useful information.

While chatting, Su Lun suddenly thought of the spirited knife in the village's ancestral hall, and asked, "Old man, when I passed by the entrance of the village, I saw a knife enshrined in the village's ancestral hall. What's the point?" Is it?"

"this"

Hearing this, the old man obviously showed embarrassment, he hesitated and said: "It's not that the old man doesn't tell the adults, but it will bring you misfortune."

When Su Lun heard it, he became more interested, but he also said, "If it's not convenient to say it, it's okay."

At this time, the young Yoshino beside him was a little anxious, as if he was afraid of neglecting the honored guest, he interjected, "Father, that eminent monk once said that people with integrity will not be affected. Just say it, Mr. Johnny is so nice." people who don't."

Monk?

Su Lun listened and felt that the sword was really special.

The old man glared at his son, but there was nothing he could do.

He felt that it was a little neglectful to conceal it, so he hesitated for a moment, then turned around and asked Su Lun again: "My lord, do you really want to hear it?"

Su Lun nodded with a smile: "Yes. I'm really interested."

Hearing this, the old man sighed slightly, as if he decided to say it now.

He paused for a moment, and then said: "Because it is a famous sword, "Onimaru Hyakume Somasa". "

When Su Lun heard the name, his hairs suddenly exploded, and he said in disbelief: "The third 'Demon Sword' of the Twelve Excellent Knives and Famous Swords is 'Onimaru Baimu Zongzheng'? "

This is a legendary sword of the Twelve Works that has disappeared!

How could it be in the ancestral hall of this small village?

As soon as he spoke, Su Lun called it impossible in his heart, and felt that something was wrong.

But the old man on the opposite side nodded with a complicated expression, "Yes."