maze

The governor of Harrison Port is Viscount Grant, an imperial noble, who was directly appointed by the former emperor. This was once the glory of the Grant family, but things became delicate after the new emperor ascended the throne.

Since the Dark Moon turmoil decades ago, Harrison Port and the entire southern immigrant area have been forgotten, or even deliberately ignored.

Even eight years ago, when Harrison Port was hit by a terrible storm that was almost a natural disaster, the imperial capital and the governor of the southern province did not say anything. The various theoretical aid equipment and construction funds were not allocated, resulting in the city wall fortifications and some marginal streets in the port not being repaired until now.

But this does not affect the Viscount's mansion as the most luxurious building in the entire port.

Elder Pude walked through the garden decorated with various bright plants. In this marble courtyard, there are also several sublimation plants with special functions. They bloom with brilliant colors, are extremely moving in the breeze, and exude a refreshing fragrance.

Elder Pude turned a blind eye to this. This short but sturdy old man of the White Citizen, led by his attendants, came to the inner side of the courtyard.

At noon, he could smell the aroma of wine. Viscount Grant was having another banquet. Elder Pude could even see the flickering candlelight. Those pale yellow candles were mixed with frankincense and ashes of the grass. They were meditation candles that could assist in sublimation practice. Each candle was worth more than seventeen thalers.

"Here you are...ah, Elder Pude."

Vice President Grant was obviously drunk, holding a slender red-haired beauty in his arms.

This dark brown-haired, red-faced nobleman looked young and had no wrinkles on his face. In fact, he was nearly sixty years old, but as a sublimator, he could maintain his prime for a longer time.

He pushed the beauty beside him away, causing her to grumble. The Viscount smiled and patted her, then waved to Elder Pud, inviting the civil affairs deputy to sit down: "Sit down, come and drink, we are waiting for you."

"It would be disrespectful to refuse."

Elder Pud slightly bowed, then sat opposite the other party.

Harrison Port has no civil affairs officer. He is the civil affairs deputy mainly because he is responsible for the maintenance of Viscount Grant's private army and the identity of the White People Elder. While working for the Viscount, he is responsible for the White People community.

Elder Pud glanced at the wine table in the middle of the courtyard. In addition to the common stewed fish and seafood in coastal cities, there are also many pork chops and venison. In front of the Viscount is a plate of lamb chops, sprinkled with spiced meat sauce, and the bread in the basket is all the best whole wheat brown bread, exuding a fragrant wheat aroma.

But this is actually a bit shabby.

In theory, the lunch of an imperial viscount, port governor and sublimator should have the best sea fruit oil, wine and refined white bread, and the staple food should be mainly beef and mutton, so that there is enough nutrition supply.

But who said Harrison Port is special? The new immigrant area has no imperial support for development and construction, so the material resources are poor. In addition to the fish, there are not many pastures to provide fat and meat. All livestock meat is a rare resource.

For political reasons, Viscount Grant will find it difficult to make further progress in the future. Naturally, he has no ambition to work hard and practice hard. He just muddles through and enjoys semi-retirement time.

"Lamar and Yam have seen me."

Viscount Grant picked up a glass of mead - mixed with a lot of high-concentration distilled liquor - and drank it in one gulp. Although he was drunk, the physique of the sublimator allowed him to sober up quickly when he wanted.

He turned his head, his pale blue eyes looked at Elder Pude, and said in an official tone: "Those lowly redwood savages actually sneaked into the city to attack the citizens of the Empire, violating the majesty of the Empire. This is intolerable. But you also know the situation of the port. We have no money to drive away the pests, and the port guards are not fully staffed now. We can only strengthen defense to prevent them from sneaking into the city again."

"If we really want to do something, we have to wait until the end of the year for the aid to arrive."

Lamar is the port treasurer, and Yam is the city defense officer and sheriff.

Originally, there was a judge in Harrison Port, but eight years ago he was unfortunately killed by an ironclad shark that fell from the sky in a storm, and his successor waited for three years for the imperial appointment document, but it was never issued. Five years ago, he left the city in anger and his whereabouts were unknown. He was probably eaten by the natives or wild beasts. Now he can only helplessly let Viscount Grant take on the concurrent position.

This is not in line with the regulations, but there is no better way. However, it is said that the situation in the imperial capital has changed. Perhaps because of the trade needs of Whale Song Cliff and Canaan Moore, the imperial center has once again set its sights on the south. Harrison Port will also receive the first imperial aid in 30 years at the end of this year.

"The natives attacked because of pure sacrifice." Elder Pude said, and he also drank a cup of honey wine mixed with high-concentration distilled liquor. His dwarf blood made him appreciate this pure stimulation even more.

After putting down the cup and spitting out a breath of alcohol, Elder Pude's deep blue eyes became brighter. He said to the viscount: "I know Osenna very well. He is not clean. This stinky boy often sneaks out of the city to trade with those savages and suck black mushrooms. I have seen it all."

"He is a bad seed, no doubt. But those savages are really too much. They sneaked into the city this time and specifically asked Osenna to give them two children as sacrifices. We, the White People, can't stand this. For the sake of our relatives, even a cripple will fight to the death. This is the truth of this attack."

"Sir, I beg you to spare his transgression for his courage in confronting the Redwood natives this time, and to grant him some incense and medicine to treat mental damage? In this attack, some young children were affected by the natives' sleeping powder, and the sequelae are quite serious."

He requested in a formal manner: "The White People will remember your generosity."

Summarizing the information of the night, Elder Pude was very close to the truth. He didn't know what Osenna really thought, but it was his job to show the unity and friendship within the White People in front of outsiders.

"Osenna and the medicine are easy to talk about. He has a distortion, and it is not uncommon for him to be immersed in dreams. I also sympathize with the child's experience."

"But pure sacrifice..."

Nodding and casually agreeing to this request, Viscount Grant actually had no intention of punishing 'Osenna' at all - he occasionally smoked black mushrooms himself, which was nothing in the imperial aristocratic circle.

As for the medicine, it is worthless to him, and it is even less worth mentioning compared to the value that Elder Pude provides for his work.

The White People account for one-seventh of the population of Harrison Port, second only to the Plains People, the main ethnic group of the Empire. Elder Pude is not only his good friend, but also the elder of a clan. They have a good relationship both at work and in private. He is always very cooperative on weekdays, so he still has to give him face.

Only the word "pure sacrifice" made Viscount Grant frown immediately when he heard it: "Really? Is the situation so serious? Do we need to notify the bishop?"

His face quickly turned from red to white. The physique of the sublimator metabolized the alcohol. The viscount exhaled a breath of alcohol and murmured with some relief: "Fortunately, the aid is coming soon, otherwise, we are powerless. The strength of those natives should not be underestimated."

But then, he shook his head and muttered in annoyance: "Recently, the Huaiguang Church has not had an easy time either. It's really troublesome."

Everyone in Nanling knows that pure sacrifice is one of the great rituals common to all the natives in Nanling. It can only be performed with the blood of children and the soul of warriors. It is second only to the highest level of ancestral sacrifice. Every time it occurs, there must be major events and changes.

And the bishop of the Huaiguang Church stationed in Harrison Port is a powerful second-level sublimator who has reached the stage of Ninghui. He is a truly poor and pure monk. His strength is stronger than Viscount Grant who is not focused on practice.

It's just that recently, the bishop has been inspecting many coastal villages and even going to the northwest colonies to drive away the sea beasts and monsters that have become active due to the typhoon season, and they often disappear for a month or two.

"Everything is up to you." Viscount Grant was still thinking, and Elder Pude would not be stupid enough to think that he really needed to give an opinion.

He just emphasized one point: "Before the storm eight years ago, those savages also made pure sacrifices in exchange for the protection of the mountain tide spirit. Their shamans are more sensitive than us in this regard and will not risk making sacrifices for no reason."

"There is one more thing, sir. Recently, there are more and more monsters and sublimated plants around the port. If there is another abnormal storm like eight years ago..."

At this point, Elder Pude emphasized: "It means that these phenomena are very likely related to the 'maze'!"