027, The disaster in Duke Town (Part 2)

Since Amon left, the disaster in Duke Town began to occur. On the third day after Amon left the town, the first young man who died young appeared in the town, the son of the missing warrior Ma Qi, who was only fourteen years old like Amon. Then three more children died in a row within a month, the youngest was only twelve years old, and the oldest was no more than fifteen years old, all of whom were boys.

The priest and doctor in the town, Xiao Gu, had no choice but to do anything about this, because all of these children died of sudden illness without exception. Afterwards, they used the divine art of healing to check, and they could only find that their bloodline seemed to be under the impact of power that could not be withstood. Xiao Gu secretly speculated that it might be because they had not grown up and had privately learned the miners' skills of Duke Town.

The miners' skills in Duke Town look very simple, as if anyone can buy them, but the unknowing consumption is almost unbearable for underage children. When they accumulate to a certain level, hidden dangers will suddenly break out, and it is too late to occur when the attack occurs. Aristotle once explained to Amon the spiritual origin of the ancient oracle, which is indeed protecting the residents here, but Aristotle did not know the mystery of the miners' skills.

Xiao Gu and Dasti had no way to punish these townspeople. First, the children were dead, and it was meaningless to pursue whether they had not obtained the patron saint's grace; second, the families that had a tragedy would not admit it themselves, and no one had any evidence. Of course, there were more than a few families who had let their children learn the skills of miners privately. Everyone seemed to know it but no one said it.

The reason for this situation may start with Amon.

Amon, who was only fourteen years old, not only had fully mastered the skills of miners passed down from generation to generation and was able to successfully mine divine stones, but also was lucky enough to obtain so many divine stones, including a blue divine stone that Lord Xiao Gu envied. Since Amon could do it, why can't his children?

The boys in Duke Town have helped the adults in their homes to pull bellows and carry ores since childhood, which is much stronger than the average children of the same age outside. Amon doesn't look the strongest. He is just the son of an old drunkard, and he has taken on the burden in advance for life. However, people are not sure that the old madman asked Amon to bathe in the strange cold spring for more than two years.

There are unfortunate and of course there are lucky ones. Not all children will die prematurely. Some people cannot learn it. A few are lucky enough to learn the miners' skills of Duke Town in advance. Naturally, people like this will not say it out, nor will they publicly tell others that the divine stones were mined by children.

Simple and ignorant are often only a thread between ignorance and ignorance. Many people are even looking forward to it inexplicably, hoping that their children can mine special divine stones like Amon. The townspeople are still discussing privately that Amon may have mined a divine stone called the Tears of the Gods, which is extremely precious.

The master who came to the capital announced in public that the miner who mined the tears of the gods would receive a heavy reward from the kingdom, but if he dealt with it privately, he would also bear the most severe punishment.

The contemporary residents of Duke Town have never heard of the Tears of the Gods, except for the old madman, Dasty, and Xiao Gu, and they don’t know what kind of divine stone it is. I don’t know who was the first to secretly suspect that such a divine stone can only be mined by children. Otherwise, so many people have mined so many divine stones over the years, why is only Amon getting it?

This speculation gradually became a plague in Duke Town. People were discussing it privately but never talking it publicly, which finally led to a continuous tragedy.

The legendary oracle that protects God Muyun here is useless, but people are more respectful to the gods on the surface and respect the priest Xiao Gu like never before. They dare not raise their eyes and speak when they see him.

The old madman became even more crazy than before, and often waved his cane in front of Muyun Temple and shouted to himself: "This is a place that is rejected by the gods, and he will be punished by the gods... That god is so cruel! But what are you doing here?"

No one paid attention to the old crazy man's nonsense and took a detour when he saw him. Dasty and Xiao Gu were not easy to care about him, but everyone thought he was crazy. But the tragedy in Duke Town continued, and several boys died of sudden illness without warning.

Do people really don’t understand that miners’ skills may not be suitable for minors to master? Everyone knows it more or less, but other children are lucky enough to succeed, not just Amon, so the tragedy of others is only regarded as a kind of unlucky. Careful people will remind their children to be careful and pay attention to their physical feelings at all times. However, they do not give up the idea of ​​letting children learn skills.

How many children in Duke Town have learned the skills of miners privately? The answer is all boys over ten years old! Everyone does this, and no one has any reason not to do it. This is a semi-public secret. People just try to be careful not to let others catch the evidence, especially to prevent Mayor Dasty and Lord Xiao Gu from knowing.

It is already difficult to stop the spread of this disaster. Although Duke Town is not small, it only has more than 2,000 residents, and its miners' skills are passed down from generation to generation in a closed environment.

The hot summer is coming, and this summer is particularly hot. Many people don’t sleep in the house at night, but enjoy the cool air in the yard or square, and sleep on straw mats or wooden boards until dawn. One night, people sleeping outdoors suddenly felt a hint of coolness. Open their eyes and touched their bodies, and unexpectedly found that there were thin raindrops floating in the air.

There is not much rain in Duke Town a year, especially in summer, the dry season of previous years, and it almost never rains. Everyone cheered happily.

After dawn, the rain had not stopped, and gradually became heavier and heavier. The raindrops sprinkled on the dry land like water curtains. The clouds in the sky were invisible at a glance, covering the black fire jungle to the west and the Syrian desert to the south. People became more and more excited and gathered in the Muyun Temple to thank the gods. Cheers could be heard at any time because the rain was heavy and they did not stop for a day or a night.

Such a rain can water the surrounding barren land and desert. After the rain is clear, a sea of ​​grass will grow in the desert, and this year it will be suitable for many flocks to stock. This has been happening in the past, but it will only take many years to encounter such a heavy rain here, which has always been regarded as a gift from the gods.

The gods seemed to have heard the prayers of the townspeople, and the heavy rain did not stop for three days and three nights. Some people gradually became a little uneasy because this was something that had never happened in their memory.

The ditches in the black fire jungle were already full of water, and the low-lying areas of the post road were flooded. More mountain torrents flowed down from the Assyrian plateau in the north, and passed through the black fire jungle and approached Duke Town. The entire town was surrounded by muddy deserts, swamped jungles, and plateaus that poured out flowing water.

When people finally realized something was wrong, they suddenly heard the sound of thunder coming from the sky. Looking at the majestic mountains of the Syrian Plateau from afar, they were covered by thick clouds, and lightning flashed in the rolling clouds. People here had almost never heard of thunder, and inexplicably had an indescribable fear.

No one in Duke Town cheered anymore. Everyone hid in the leaking house and prayed to the gods, hoping that the heavy rain would end quickly. But the rain did not stop as people hoped. After the thunder sounded, it had already rained for three days and three nights, and suddenly it turned into a downpour again, just like a huge hole in the sky was torn open.

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Chapter completed!