Northwest Bay It's already autumn in September, and the woods all over the mountains are slowly turning into golden and orange colors. Farmers are busy harvesting crops in the fields in preparation for the coming long winter.
On a road leading from south to north in Arda Earl Territory to Lakeheart Town, a motorcade was driving slowly.
This team of people was the first batch of craftsmen recruited by Quiller Foster for his good friend Paul and a caravan from his family. They took a boat from the Corner Bay and took the sea route to avoid the war-torn areas in the south of the Auldo Kingdom, then landed in the kingdom West Coast, and then headed north from there to the kingdom Northwest Region via land.
The person escorting this team was none other than Lichman Adventurer Group, but this time they were all deployed.
Go back two months.
"Why did I raise a good-for-nothing son like you!"
Horn Bay Alliance, a member of the council - Marquis Foster, shouted loudly in his mansion with a look of grief and indignation.
Standing next to him was his second son, Quiller Foster, who looked aggrieved.
Queller retorted dissatisfied, "Dad! Didn't I just sneak out for a few days? As for getting so angry?"
Marquis Foster glared at his son. "I will settle the score with you later for leaving without saying goodbye."
He held up a porcelain plate with both hands and shook it carefully in front of Queller: "First tell me about this stupid thing you did!"
Queller looked puzzled. "This is a gift from my friend. Let me come back to promote it for him. He plans to sell it to the south. I know it is very valuable, so I asked you, a business veteran, to estimate the price. Why do you call me stupid?"
Foster Marquis first carefully placed the porcelain plate on the table, then slapped his son on the forehead and said in a tone of hatred, "How come the family's business talent has completely disappeared in you? You should have decisively won its exclusive agency right then."
Queller suddenly realized. "Uh... it turns out that's what happened to you."
Seeing his son's expression of understanding, Marquis became even more furious, pointing at his son's nose and began to criticize him.
"The whole person is uneducated and knows how to wander around!"
"Your brother will make me worry less. He can negotiate a business by himself at the age of 15."
"You're twenty years old and you haven't accomplished anything yet."
Queller looked indifferent and let his father's words go in one ear and out the other as usual.
Marquis Foster was tired of scolding and picked up the water glass to moisten his throat. As soon as he touched his lips, he remembered that there were more important things than teaching his son a lesson.
"Quickly, quickly, bring a caravan to Northwest Bay and negotiate the agency rights for this 'porcelain', as well as that new type of paper. These are all things with great prospects. By the way, isn't your friend the earl short of shipbuilders? Go and recruit people now, as many as he wants. If they are not enough, we will transfer a group from the family shipyard."
Queller responded casually, "Okay, okay, father, please be patient."
Seeing that his son still looked unhurried, Count Foster jumped up and said, "Go now!!!"'
Queller complained, "No, I just got home. I need to rest for a few days."
But seeing how his father was about to hit him in the face with a water glass, he immediately ran out to do errands.
Everyone in Lichman Adventurer Group got the reward for this mission from the Adventurer's Guild.
Regiment Commander Meilu was very happy. He held up the money bag and said, "This mission is finally a success. Let's go find a gourmet restaurant and have a big meal."
Everyone clapped in agreement and happily searched for gourmet restaurants on the street.
Suddenly there was a commotion on the street, and pedestrians moved to both sides. Soon the middle of the street was vacated, and everyone in the adventure group followed the crowd and moved to one side of the road.
Dean pulled the sleeve of a passerby next to him and asked, "Excuse me, we are not familiar with this place just now. What happened?"
The passerby turned around and said, "The court caught a Witch a few days ago, and he will be burned at the stake now!"
Dean was startled and subconsciously glanced at his companion Laddie. Sure enough, the scholar girl's face was completely pale.
The other companions in the adventure group also looked solemn.
Witch Hunt, this is the largest activity initiated by Church and continues to this day. As far as Dean knows, during its craziest period, Messiah alone in the city-state burned more than 400 people suspected of being wizards within a year.
The long Witch Hunt caused countless tragedies. In many cases, even Holy See himself had to admit that he had created unjust, false and wrong cases and vindicated the parties involved.
There was a period of time in which a few scholars and nobles boldly reflected and criticized Witch Hunt. Coupled with the rise of Enlightenment Society within Holy See, Witch Hunt fell into a low ebb.
But in recent years, Witch Hunt has begun to rise again. Ironically, this time it has risen precisely in Southern Nations, which advertises its open-mindedness.
It can be said that Church was created out of nothing, but that cannot be said. At least Dean knew that there was one...
Passers-by on both sides of the road started shouting.
"Burn this Witch!"
"Burn this bitch for fornicating with the devil!"
Under the escort of Church knights, a Prison Wagon drove slowly through the street. Many passers-by threw stones at Prison Wagon.
In Prison Wagon, an unkempt woman was chained up, with only a pair of dull, lifeless eyes exposed from the gap in her hair. She allowed hard stones to fall on her body, adding new scars to her already bruised body.
Continuing forward is the square in the city center, where the rack has been prepared and the woman's fate has been sealed.
Laddie tugged on Regiment Commander's sleeves, lowered his head and whispered, "Meilu, let's go..."
Meilu grabbed her hand and held it tightly, whispering in her ear, "Don't be afraid, we will always protect you."
After what happened, everyone was no longer in the mood to enjoy the delicious food, so they returned to the hotel.
Entering the hotel door, they spotted a familiar figure.
"Lichman Adventurer Group brothers and sisters, long time no see, I miss you so much!"
Queller hugged the two men in the group tightly when he came up.
Regiment Commander Meilu said helplessly, "Hey, hey, hey! Foster Young Master, we have only been separated for a long time!"
"Hahaha! Don't worry about the details. Huh? Why do you all look like you just got seriously ill?"
Meilu said, "What do you want from us? We are leaving this city."
Queller snapped his fingers, "I am afraid that you will leave, so I came to you in such a hurry. I have an urgent task that I want to entrust to you."
"What mission?"
Queller pointed to the north and said, "My father asked me to lead a caravan and make another trip Northwest Bay. Are you willing to escort us there? You can set any price for commissions and so on."
"Oh?" Meilu became interested, not entirely because of the commission, but because she also planned to leave the south and lead the group members to avoid the recent limelight of Witch Hunt.
She glanced at Dean and Kai, who quickly understood what she meant and nodded in agreement.
Meilu said, "Okay, Master Queller. But since it is a caravan, we alone cannot escort it. We have to join up with several other group members before we can set off."
Queller said happily, "It happens that I also need some time, so it's settled!"
I searched for information today and found that Witch Hunt in history reached its largest scale exactly after the Renaissance. It is really incredible.