Game of the World Tree

"Shit! These goddamn noble pigs! They should all be caught by the trial knights and hanged on the street to be beaten!"

Old John grinned, turned his sleeves and looked at the bloody welts on his arms with a look of anger.

His hair was messy, it didn't seem to have been washed for a long time, it smelled sour, and the sun-red skin was deeply wrinkled. If he didn't say it, no one would even believe that he was less than three years old this year. Fifteen.

He limped down the street, cursing as he walked.

Suddenly, a group of well-equipped knights riding high-headed horses swept across the street in a mighty manner, causing Old John to roll aside in a panic.

This kind of knight who is loyal to the nobles is the most unreasonable. If he can't avoid it, no one cares about a free man like him even if he dies.

The dust was soaring that he coughed a lot, and his face was disheartened. The scar on his body seemed to be cracked even further, and he bared his teeth in pain.

"Shit! It's all shit!"

Old John scolded and got up.

There was discomfort under his feet, and he looked down, only to realize that he had accidentally lost his shoes when he was dodging just now.

"Where are my shoes?"

Old John was in a hurry and hurriedly looked for it.

He only has this pair of shoes left now, but he can't lose them anymore.

And when he found his other shoe on the side of the road, the shoe had almost been trampled.

It was the knights who did it.

"Shit! It's all shit!"

Old John was even more angry.

He put on the torn shoes, exposing several toes that looked like they were muddy, and moved a bit, but he was barely able to make do.

"So be it."

Old John sighed and limped toward the church.

He had to find a priest to treat his injuries, otherwise, he wouldn't even think about working these days.

Nobles are shameless people, and the wages they owe are no longer available. If they can't find another job in a short period of time, maybe he will starve to death.

In this world, refugees like him who escaped from the south starved to death too much.

To be honest, he now regrets that he didn't disembark at Zeroland with those unbelievers when he went north.

According to the troubadours in the tavern, the life of the Freelancers of Maple Moon is like paradise. Those who immigrate there will be properly settled, and those with skills may even be assigned jobs and residences.

So enviable.

Thinking back on what he had been through over the past year, Old John's expression became more and more sad.

However, immigrating to Maple Moon has a major premise.

That is, you must give up your original belief and convert to the goddess of life.

This is unacceptable to Old John, who has been a devout and eternal believer since childhood.

At least... it used to be.

After struggling to the front of the church of the Eternal Church, looking at the neat and beautiful building, Old John hesitated slightly.

Speaking of... when was the last time you came to church?

Can't remember.

He couldn't remember how long he hadn't been to the Eternal Church.

When he just came to this small town in the Northern Territory, he would go to pray once a week.

At that time, his savings had not been spent.

And now, he's just a hapless bastard with nothing, running around every day for a living.

Except as a freedman.

Old John looked at his tattered clothes, and looked at the decently dressed believers coming and going at the church door, and his expression was a little uneasy.

He didn't know if he should step in.

This church, which he used to take for granted, now felt like two worlds, bringing him a lot of pressure.

"What are you afraid of? I am also a devout and eternal believer! When I was in the Southern Land, I even donated silver coins to the church!"

Old John encouraged himself and suppressed the inferiority in his heart.

Taking a deep breath, he limped up.

However, before Old John entered the church, he was stopped by the attendant at the door:

"Hey! Stop! What are you doing?"

"My lord, I...I want to find the priest to treat the wound on my body."

Old John raised his head, looked at the attendant with the sun badge on his chest, and squeezed out a pleasing smile.

The emblem of the sun, the emblem of the Eternal Church, symbolizes the first sun, judgment and power.

These attendants should be the newly recruited reserve knights by the church. Recently, the church seems to have been expanding the recruitment of knights. Old John also heard from the tavern that someone had obtained the favor of the gods, and they jumped from ordinary people to high-level silver professionals, which made him very envious .

It is a pity that these knights must be recommended by nobles, or have strong extraordinary talents themselves, and ordinary people like him have no chance at all.

Seeing the embarrassed look of Old John, the attendants frowned slightly.

"If you want to enter the church, you have to change into decent clothes, otherwise it will be disrespectful to the gods! Besides, a treatment costs five gold pounds, are you ready?"

They said blankly.

"Five... five gold pounds?"

Old John's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Wait, my lord... Doesn't the church's primary treatment only need five silver coins? When did you need five gold pounds?"

He lost his voice.

Five gold pounds is five hundred silver coins, and he can't earn that much even in a year.

Old John's salary was only one silver coin a day, and that was often deducted by nobles... After the expenses were removed, there was nothing left.

Right now, he only has ten silver coins all over his body, and he managed to save it. He originally planned to save twenty coins to buy a new set of clothes and shoes.

"Silver coins? He actually said silver coins?"

The two attendants listened and laughed.

After laughing, they glanced at the tattered old John with contempt and said:

"What era is that? Now the world is so chaotic, people are looking for the priest to see a doctor every day, and the church has to recruit knights. How can the priest be so busy? Now the priest can only perform intermediate treatment, one hardware pound!"

"But...but I only need primary treatment."

Old John said nervously.

"Are you teaching us to do things? Or teaching the pastor to do things? Five gold pounds, if you want to see it, don't get in the way here if you don't see it, there are still many believers who want to enter the door!"

The attendant frowned.

Old John opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but in the end he fell into silence.

Clenching the few silver coins in his hand, he lowered his head and limped away.

"Poor ghost, you still want to come to the church to see a doctor, and don't even look at yourself!"

The attendant's sneer came from behind, piercing Old John's heart like a steel needle.

He paused slightly, feeling a little uncomfortable.

A gorgeous carriage drove past him and entered the courtyard of the church. Faintly, Old John heard the voice of the attendant again:

"Yo, isn't this Lord Herman? Why are you here? Come in, come in... The priest has been talking about you for a long time!"

The sound is pleasing.

Old John looked back at the arrogant, gorgeously dressed nobleman, and the flattering church attendant. It was summer, but he felt a little cold for no reason.

He felt a little stuck in his heart.

He originally wanted to spend three more silver coins to dedicate to the church, and then listen to the pastor's teachings and talk about his troubles...

But I didn't expect that I couldn't even step in the door of the church.

"Oh, noble pigs, and servant pigs, they should all be whipped! They should all be punished by the gods!"

he murmured softly.

The voice was inexplicably hoarse.

The hot sun hung in the sky, and Old John dragged his aching body and limped to the Black Walnut Tavern.

The tavern was filled with the choking smell formed by the mixture of sweat, inferior wine, strong perfume, etc., which was suffocating, but Old John was used to it.

This is the cheapest tavern in the ghetto of the city, and gathers a large number of drunkards, idlers, refugees and low-level adventurers.

They say they are low-level adventurers, but in fact they are all apprentices or apprentice warriors who have mastered extraordinary power, and occasionally there are professionals of the black iron rank.

Such an aloof superhuman was never seen in the Black Walnut Tavern before.

However, since the magic power of the entire world has risen sharply, more and more people have awakened to extraordinary powers, and such former great figures have become commonplace now.

The bard's off-key music blared in the noisy tavern, drowned out by the cacophony of drunks and adventurers.

Old John looked over and found that many people were playing Gobang, while the adventurers gathered together to play Gwent, surrounded by many onlookers.

From time to time, cheers can be heard.

Even Old John was intrigued, and wanted to lean over to see how the game, which was said to be freely passed from the Forest of Spirits and Maple Moon, was played, but thinking about the business, he finally endured it.

"Here's a bunch of good ale."

Old John sat on the bar and took out a silver coin with heartache.

The bartender gave him a surprised look and joked:

"Old John, are you making a fortune? Are you willing to drink high-quality ale?"

"Shit! I just want to get rich! I've been working in the mine for half a month, but I haven't even gotten a single silver coin!"

Old John said gloomily.

As he said that, he opened his sleeves with a grin. It was so hot that he was sweating, and his sleeves were already glued to the wound.

Looking at the bloody wound, the bartender was stunned:

"Why are you injured?"

"It's not that goddamn nobles! The mine wasn't destroyed by us, it's all about us!"

Old John said bitterly.

"Destroyed?"

The bartender was stunned.

As if thinking of something, he approached Old John and asked curiously:

"So...the rumors are true? A dragon came from the gold mine? Take all the gold and the newly discovered magic stone mine?"

"Of course it's true, I saw it with my own eyes! That dragon...the size of a mountain...it's fierce!"

Old John made a gesture.

It seemed that the wound had been pulled, and the pain caused him to grin again.

"Your injury is a little serious, why don't you go to the priest or herbalist?"

The bartender frowned.

After listening to his words, old John's eyes flashed with a hint of sadness, he let out a heck, and laughed at himself:

"I thought... I didn't even go in the door of the church."

"why?"

"No money."

Old John spread his hands.

The bartender was dumbfounded. He looked at Old John's tattered clothes and sighed.

He has also heard that the church has been charging more and more for treatment in recent years.

"Here, your ale."

"thanks……"

Old John took the ale and opened the lid.

The aroma of the wine was on his nostrils, and he sniffed it intoxicated, smacking his lips.

It was the first time he had bought this kind of high-quality ale, and a bundle was worth a full silver coin.

You know, if you replace it with inferior ale, you can buy ten bucks!

Of course, it is said that it is high-quality ale, but compared with the real pure ale, it is also a hundred and eighty thousand miles away.

However, such things as ale were originally the drink of the commoners, like the nobles did not bother to drink it at all.

They generally drink wine, as well as fruit wine from the Elf Forest, and white wine.

What does it seem to be called... Erguotou?

So the troubadour said.

But old John didn't order ale to drink.

Under the surprised eyes of the bartender, he carefully poured out the wine and sprinkled it on his wound.

"Hey, old John, what are you doing? Are you crazy?! Give it to me if you don't drink it. I've never had a lot of high-quality ale!"

"Hey, what do you know? I'm sterilizing! Otherwise, such a deep wound, in such a hot day, will be broken if it deteriorates."

"Disinfection? What a mess..."

"You don't know this, right? Alcohol can disinfect. It is said that it can... kill the small animals in the wound, um... some small animals that we can't see, it is those small animals that make the wound worse."

"Nonsense, who told you?"

"The bard of the street."

"Do you believe what the bard says?"

"He said that he was brought by Fengyue freely. This is the way the elves told him."

"Elf..."

After listening to Old John's words, the bartender raised his eyebrows and was at a loss for words.

In recent years, the name of the elves has become more and more loud, and people in any city on the mainland know the rise of the forest of elves.

Not only that, the elves seem to know a lot of lost skills and knowledge. It is said that some of the contents have shocked the legendary masters of the Mage Tower, and they are extremely sought after...

Thinking of this, the bartender also secretly wrote down this method, and plans to find a chance to try it in the future.

"I don't know if it will be better tomorrow after I sprinkle the wine. The mine is gone. I have to find a new place to work tomorrow..."

Looking at the deep wound, old John sighed.

"Mine? It's not worth going to that cursed place. I heard that many people who go to mine are sick. Look at you. It's only been a year, and you look like you are more than 20 years old. ."

The bartender shook his head.

"Then what can I do? I don't have any skills. I used to be a farmer. If I fled here, I have nothing left."

Old John sighed numbly.

Hearing his words, the bartender was also momentarily sad.

In recent years, more and more refugees have fled, and people starved to death can be seen on the roadside every day.

There are wars everywhere, the invasion of demons, the outbreak of beast swarms, and even the weather is strange. This year, there has been a severe drought in the entire fertile plain, and the harvest of food is not good, but taxes have risen again...

"It's still better for Fengyue to lead it freely... This messy day, I don't know when it will be the end."

Old John sighed.

"That's the credit of the Church of Life. Did you know that it is said that the priests used the magic technique to rain in the Fengyue Freeland."

The bartender shook his head.

"Divine Rain?"

Old John's eyes widened.

"Yeah, that's the goddess of life and nature, do you understand? Not to mention rain, it is said that some magical techniques can directly make crops mature in one day! Since Fengyue freely accepted the Church of Life, the entire territory has been lost. People are more hungry than ever!"

said the bartender.

"Goddess of life..."

Old John's expression was a little complicated.

In recent years, the name of the Goddess of Life has become louder and louder, or rather, louder than the name of the elves.

Even the bards on the street often tell the story of the goddess of life, which often attracts a lot of audiences...

Fight against the evil gods, protect the believers, spread knowledge, and perform magic...

It is precisely because of his existence, because of the existence of the Church of Life, that the Maple Moon Free Leader will quickly recover after the war and become more and more prosperous.

It's a stark contrast to the Empire.

There is no harm without comparison. Thinking of his experience in front of the Eternal Church just now, Old John's heart became more and more uncomfortable, more and more sad, and more and more disappointed.

"However, the most beautiful place should be the Elf Forest, right? I heard from the merchants in the caravan that the Elf city there is as beautiful as a palace, with a rich life, like a paradise... However, only elves and those with elves' blood Only half-elves can settle there."

The bartender sighed.

"Elves... I've never seen an elves before, but I saw a half-elves once when they were in the southern frontier. It was on the auction house."

Old John said.

"Auction house? That must have happened many years ago, right?"

The bartender raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's been years."

Old John nodded.

The two chatted one after another and passed the time.

Wine was sprinkled on the wound, and apart from the discomfort at first, Old John gradually got used to it.

And at this moment, suddenly, the door of the tavern was pushed open again.

Several gorgeously equipped and tall figures walked in.

The bartender looked over and was slightly startled.

And the whole tavern gradually fell into silence.

"Spirit...spirit?"