The Fire-Chasing Herrscher Who Destroyed the World

The early morning light shines on the earth through the light clouds, and is outlined by the dust floating in the air like mayflies. The wind blew through the Bohemian grasslands, and the green grass moved back in the same direction layer by layer, like endless waves. This wind blew all the way to the end of the grassland, crashing into the thick Bohemian forest. The branches and leaves for hundreds of kilometers in a radius were rustling, and the shapes of light and shadow were also shaken...

The wind blew away the green leaves hanging on the branches, and his hands and feet were pulled by the swaying branches. When the wind reached the end of the forest, it was already at the end of its strength and could hardly move forward anymore.

But it finally reached its destination. It started from the green Bohemian grassland and exhausted everything in the vast forest, just to reach the fertile basin on the Danube River.

Vienna is now the largest city in the entire continent. It is located in the center of the entire Europe. People and things from all directions converge into this city through the muddy road network in spring, but Vienna is not the heart of the entire Europe.

The heart of Europe is in Vienna, but Vienna is not the heart of Europe.

The three major families need a city that can completely control Europe as a base, and this place can only be Vienna. However, the three major families must maintain a certain degree of mystery. Tianming, as a huge organization integrating military, political and religious trinity, is not suitable to be crowded in the bustling urban area of ​​Vienna. Therefore, a building nearly ten miles north of Vienna's urban area The small castle was lucky enough to be chosen, and suddenly it became the heart of Europe from a small place with nothing but a monastery.

This is Kronostenburg, now the headquarters of Destiny.

It was originally just the seat of Tianming's institution. Apart from the Castle Council, the three major families, and some other organizational personnel and their families, the entire population of Klosten was less than 10,000. But as time goes by, Destiny's power becomes more and more prominent, and its institutions and personnel become more and more bloated. All kinds of businessmen and hawkers flock to Klosten from all over Europe like sharks smelling blood, suddenly making it larger in size. The price has increased several times, even compared with Vienna, it is not far behind.

But Vienna is Vienna, and Klosten is Klosten. Vienna is a splendid building and a colorful dream. But at a glance, Klosten turns black into gray. The cumulonimbus clouds over the entire city have clearly dissipated, but It still felt like I was being pressed down by something heavy. Once I stepped inside, I felt heavy and breathless.

The dirt road underfoot is soft and sticky, and the air is filled with the unique coolness after the rain. Perhaps for this reason, the streets of Klosten are almost empty today, with the occasional housewife carrying bread and vegetables. Everyone passing by was in a hurry, as if they were afraid of being entangled with something.

"Click——"

The brittle paper sank into the mud, making an insignificant sound. Mikael bent down and picked up the guessed paper. It was about the size of a palm, and it was densely packed with characters:

【Indulgences

All people are born with original sin, and even though they live in a confused world, they may do good deeds, but they cannot escape evil deeds.

Now, with the Lord’s mercy, this coupon can be used to pay for all kinds of sins, and avoid the pain of hell after death. The soul can go straight to heaven and listen to the divine voice of the Lord—Amen! 】

"It's begun."

Mikael's lips opened and closed, and his voice was so low that Mebius beside him could hardly hear it.

He turned his wrist and saw a line of scrawled characters written on the back of this "indulgence note" - Squid (one of the top ten mythical beasts in ancient times)!

"hehe."

Mebius took the indulgence and looked at it, and couldn't help but sneer.

"Let's go on and see what kind of good show you are talking about."

Continuing forward, I saw a stall occupying half of the road at an empty street corner. There were two large clay pots on the stall. A salesman in a bright red robe was leaning on a plain wooden chair behind the stall. , if it weren’t for his too vulgar appearance, at first glance, I would have thought he was a cardinal.

Seeing someone approaching, he raised his head and glanced quickly. Two figures, one tall and one short, were all hidden under black robes, and even their faces were obscured.

The salesman shook his head. He was not an insider of Tianming, but a contractor of the indulgences. He usually did various businesses. He knew that these two people were not easy to mess with just by looking at them.

It's hard to tell whether he is a local from Klosten - how can a local wear such a black robe that completely covers his body when going out on the street? Almost only assassins and mercenaries who lick blood from the tip of their swords would dress like this.

The more the salesman looked at it, the more he felt that he was right, especially the figures of the two men. The tall one was very powerful and could hit at least ten of him in a head-on confrontation. The petite one was hard to say, but he was used to carry out assassination missions. , it is really suitable to drill a chimney, a hole for cats and dogs, etc.

Such people have experienced life and death all year round, and must be very mentally unstable. The salesman did not want to provoke them, but on second thought, there are also devout believers among these people, and they have experienced so many killings, so the "sins" on their bodies must not be the same. few……

So, out of professional ethics...or maybe just luck, he still shouted:

"You two, do you want to buy indulgences? You can get a discount if you buy them together! When the coins you buy for the indulgences clang and fall into the clay pot, the souls of you or your relatives will come out of the flames of purgatory!"

He didn't have much hope, but after he finished shouting, he saw the tall man stopped and walked to his stall.

He stretched out his hand and knocked on the clay pot on the table. The clay pot filled with gold and silver coins made a sound like silver bells, and like fine raindrops, crisp and sweet.

This action startled the salesman. For a moment, he thought that the man in black was planning to steal all his hard-earned money in broad daylight.

Fortunately, the other party was not so rough, or not so bold. The salesman saw him raise his head slightly, revealing the corners of his mouth that were raised for no reason, and then a calm and indifferent male voice came:

"How to sell it?"

"Ah...ah?"

Mikael took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, his voice slightly louder:

"How much does one cost?"

"Ah...ah...oh!"

When he heard that a customer was coming to the door, the smile on the salesman's face instantly bloomed, until his two big yellow and black teeth turned out like rabbits.

"Well, sir, this is your first time buying indulgences, right? Hehe, these are not sold by the piece!"

"Huh? What's the button?"

"Uh... this gentleman, it depends on the sin you want to atone for, ahem -"

He cleared his throat, probably feeling that what he was going to say and do next was a sacred work. After all, indulgences can wash away people's sins and allow souls that should have fallen into hell to ascend to heaven. Then the Lord should Watching every indulgence issued...that's weird! What a ghost!

"If you take another person's life, you should pay eight gold groschens. If you harm your parents, brothers and sisters, it will be six. If you commit adultery in the church, it will be six. If you forge another person's document, commit fraud or treason, it will be six." …”

"If the life of one's own family is taken, should it be counted as an eight-gold groshin, or an eight-and-six-gold groshin?"

"Uh...this...this...eight..."

The amount of information was a bit overwhelming, and the hair on the back of the salesman's head was suddenly soaked with cold sweat. But when he thought of the crisp sound when gold and silver coins were thrown into the clay pot, he gritted his teeth, lowered his head and said:

"Eight plus six!"

"That's it..."

Mikael stood still in front of the clay pot. Mebius couldn't figure out what he was thinking, so he could only hold his hand tightly.

In fact, Mikael was just performing the simplest addition and subtraction operations. Not to mention the special nature of the Herrscher of Reason, even an ordinary adult would not be able to perform simple addition and subtraction for long. But maybe I have lived too long and my brain is a little rusty, or maybe I have too many debts, and it takes too much time to count them out one by one. Until the morning light becomes dazzling and hot, the salesman in front of me can't even breathe lightly. Just waiting for Mikael to speak.

"Eight plus six... times one, two, three... eleven..."

He waved his sleeves, and one by one the large silver coins (Jinggroshen had gold characters, but they were actually silver coins...) fell into the clay pot like beads. At first, the salesman could count them, but then he could only count them mechanically. The ground trembled with the crisp sound of money——

How many people were killed? Are they all family members?

The crisp sound of the silver coins finally stopped, and the sunlight reflected by the silver coins almost overflowed from the clay pot. The salesman was still in a trance, and saw Mikael reaching out his hand again and throwing twelve gold groschens into it. Then he raised his head, revealing a boyish face that had nothing to do with his voice.

Their eyes met, and he swore, swearing by his memory of selling thousands of indulgences—he had never seen such pious eyes.

It stands to reason that people who buy indulgences do so in order to avoid the punishment of hell, so that themselves or the souls of their deceased relatives and friends can ascend to heaven. They should be extremely devout believers. But of course this is not the case. At least in the special city of Klosten, no one thinks that buying indulgences is the Lord's will.

The reason why they are willing to pay is because they know that this is Destiny's way of making money. Taking the initiative to subscribe now may save them a lot of trouble. As for those who don't have money to buy or simply don't want to buy, the salesman knows very well that they will definitely give in within two days. It's just hard to say whether they come on their own initiative or if the Knight of Destiny knocks on their door.

Of course, the population of Klosten is close to one hundred thousand, and the people are mixed, good and bad. If there are people who are really determined to believe that indulgences can really atone for sins, the salesman has not seen them.

But even among those people, no one has ever been as pious as the young man in front of him.

Just piety, without any fanaticism, without any excitement, without any excessive expectations, and without any worry about gains and losses, just devoutly praying that one's sins can be redeemed.

"Gulu——"

The salesman swallowed hard, put his sweaty palm into another clay pot, and took out a thin piece of paper between his fingers.

"This is your atonement, you..."

The salesman's movements froze in place, because there was no one in front of him again.

He quickly grabbed the pottery pot on the other side. Fortunately, the pottery pot was full of gold and had not decreased. It seemed that he wanted to use this method to prove the real existence of the man in black.

Of course, the salesman would not think about the issue of "existence". He just lay down on the wooden chair, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and kept mumbling:

"It's good as long as the money is still there...It's good as long as the money is still there..."

He jumped up from his seat again, grabbed a large handful of silver coins from the clay pot, put it under his nose and took a deep breath. The unique smell of metal and rust entered his nostrils. He closed his eyes and let out a contented sigh. .

"I thought it was some kind of difficult customer, but it turned out to be a stupid guy with a lot of money!"

He snorted coldly, and while there were no pedestrians on the street, he half-crouched, took a breath to pick up the pottery jar full of silver coins, took two quick steps back, and poured all the silver coins into the prepared cloth bag.

"Hush--"

He put the pottery jar back on the table and blew a weak whistle. Just as he was about to continue his day of slacking off, a woman in her twenties and a little girl of five or six years old appeared in his sight.

The woman just turned the corner and saw his stall. Her first reaction was to drag the girl back along the road.

Unexpectedly, the salesman in the red robe with limited mobility was extremely flexible. He jumped up from the chair in just 0.1 seconds, and took the opportunity to flip over the wooden table and land behind the woman. The woman took a step and was grabbed by his wrist.

"Let me go, my child and I have already bought indulgences!"

"Oh? Really? Madam, are you sure you have bought indulgences?"

The salesman looked slender and short like a monkey, but no matter what, he was stronger than a woman who was also malnourished for a long time. No matter how the latter struggled, her wrist could not escape his iron-like grip. She was also carrying a child, which added a lot of concerns.

"Madam, please calm down and talk nicely. You don't want your child to get hurt, do you?"

The salesman smiled obscenely, raised his toes and pretended to kick the girl. The woman quickly hugged him and begged for mercy:

"Please be kind, please be kind, I swear to God, I really bought indulgences!"

"Really?"

The salesman's laughter was no longer concealed, just like his palm that kept wandering between the woman's waist and hips.

"Really! I swear it's absolutely true!"

"Then why did you run away when you saw me?"

"I...I..."

"Lying is also a sin, ma'am!"

The salesman pinched the woman's skin, but felt that there was no flesh, and his hand was a little painful.

But it's better than nothing, it's better than nothing...

He then threatened:

"Madam, you have two choices, six gold groschen to buy an indulgence to redeem your sins, or... hehehe!"

"You... you are adding insult to injury! Your soul will go to hell too! Bastard!"

"Ah, ah... really? Then I will buy an indulgence for myself right away, won't it be fine?"

"You..."

"Think it over, madam, I can only find a prostitute in the Miracle District for two silver groschen, and the price I offer for you is six gold groschen, which is equivalent to one hundred and forty-four silver groschen, enough for me to find prostitutes seventy-two times! Are you still dissatisfied?"

"..."

The woman bit her lip and couldn't speak, just hiding the child behind her, but this obviously didn't work except to make the salesman more excited.

"I know what you are thinking, Madam. Do you think I am just using a piece of paper that is not worth mentioning to cheat you of your chastity? No, no, no, for every indulgence I sell, I have to pay the money to Heaven, and they will return me one-twenty-fourth of the commission. I paid you six gold groschen!"

This is true. In theory, the profit from selling indulgences is very small. After all, it is a product used by Heaven to make up for the losses of the Eastern Expedition. The bulk of the profit naturally belongs to Heaven.

But the water here is deep - Heaven only prices an indulgence at one gold groschen, and there is no price difference caused by so many crimes.

But this group of profiteers directly doubled the price! Anyway, this is the richest place in Europe, and the indulgence contractors and salesmen in the city have already agreed on the price. If travelers and merchants from all over the country raise objections to the price, they can also argue: "I'm sorry, brother. The people of Kolosten are generally sinful... How much did you spend on an indulgence in xxx? Oh! I'm so sorry, you are a sinner when you come to Kolosten, can you get another one?" Of course, not to mention that these people have increased the original price several times. As far as the salesman in front of him is concerned, he has just encountered a sucker who is hard to come by in a million years! Fourteen times eleven plus twelve, a full 166 gold groschen! Throwing away the 23 silver groschen handed over to fate... rounding off, even if one gold groschen is handed over, there is still a net profit of 165! Once a person gets an unexpected fortune, it is inevitable that he will be distracted and want to squander it. Now he is like this. "Okay, okay..." The woman's voice was crying, and the salesman grinned, and suddenly regretted it a little - the woman in front of him was just so beautiful, it seemed that he was a little... at a loss? He was worried about gain and loss, but unexpectedly, the woman gritted her teeth and took out six gold groschen from her loose and worn dress and stuffed them into his hand.

"An indulgence, sir!"

"Thank you!"

The salesman said again, and then accepted the six large silver coins with satisfaction.

"Bah! Money is better than anything else!"

Then he thought to himself that after making so much money in the past two days, the low-end prostitutes who cost two silver groschens might not be suitable for him. Otherwise... try the one with two gold groschens tonight?