Chapter 68: Coincidence or deliberateness It turns out that Gutez, while a good caravan leader, is not a good guide.
Templar Fang Senyan and his group immediately set off at his initiative, but after walking at least three kilometers in the senses, they found themselves still circling in the woods.
The woods seemed to have no end, and when they had gone some distance they would raise their heads to see a glimmer of starlight and a black sky, and they longed for the feeling of the wind on their faces, but it was in vain.
The whole forest seemed to imprison them in the branches.
Aside from the sounds they made, there was a permanent silence, a long period of darkness and a dazed lifelessness.
Although they were holding torches, the light of the torches could only shine through five or six meters, and then they were wrapped in pitch black, which was not the kind of pitch black that they could talk about casually, but the weirdness that they couldn't see when they waved their fingers in front of their eyes.
Fang Senyan sensed that something was wrong, because if he encountered any danger in such an environment, he would almost not be able to fight back, so he immediately asked Wu Gedao: "What's wrong with us, something is wrong."
The fog song girl closed her eyes, then shook her head slightly and said: "On the fragment of the armor of the Ring Knight Dole that you carried, there was suddenly a rich and incomparably dark aura, I couldn't feel the natural flow anymore, all I experienced was madness, panic, and chaos."
It was almost impossible for them to walk in such a way, and they had to sit down and raise a bonfire, but soon some tiny parallel points of light appeared around him, and they were a pair of yellow, red, or green eyes watching him.
When someone approached, the light of those eyes faded until it disappeared, and then slowly appeared in another direction.
Luckily, dawn was not long in coming, and in the faint morning light, they recognized the owners of these eyes as countless dark gray and black moths, some as large as the palm of a human hand.
The moths flapped their wings in their ears and whirred, sprinkling choking wing powder, and the wings of these moths had a terrifying pattern of smiling faces.
Fang Senyan frowned, you must know that the contractor's private space is completely in this world, and almost all breath leakage can be isolated, and now it seems that the fragment of the armor of the Ring Knight Dor is definitely not simple.
However, these ghost-faced moths still couldn't resist the power of the morning light, and slowly dispersed, and the clouds on the horizon were dyed with a layer of gold, everything was showing that this would be a very good sunny day, and then they realized that they had been trekking in the dark for an hour or two, and they had been walking in a big circle, and it was only one or two hundred meters away from the place where they had fought with the Ringing Knight before.
Needless to say, Gutés discerned the direction, and then slowly detoured the main road, and at noon luckily met a caravan from the Shire, Fang Senyan and they bought a few horses to travel on behalf of the carat, and after five or six hours of trekking, they successfully arrived at the Shire.
The Shire were the dwelling quarters of the Hobbits, who were only half the height of the Numenorians of the north, hence the name Halflings.
Closer to the Shire, you can see large areas of farmland reclaimed in the hills, one by one in the distance, a neat carpet, which can be seen even more clearly if you get closer: The tender green spring barley is estimated to be two months away, the dark green tubular leaves of the onions are topped with dandelion-like flowers, the goose-yellow hops of Beigang are expected to add fragrance to the wine soon, the lilac rushes look like they are being harvested, and the cart ahead should be filled with gray-green pipe grass, which will be sent to the charr to make tobacco with a unique aroma.
Templar As we continued along the flat road with pockmarked gravel, there were more hobbits on the road, no more than a meter tall, with rounded faces, red cheeks, curled hair, broad faces, bright eyes, and a large mouth accustomed to smiling and enjoying food, and the sound of musical instruments could be heard from time to time.
Fang Senyan noticed that these little Lotte men had hard pads and heavy brown curly hair on their soles, which should be a large part of the reason for their incredible speed, and many hobbits carried a large cowhide strip on their backs.
After Gutès's explanation, it became clear that it was their weapon: the sling, which you can understand as a chain ball that can break the chain at any time at the will of the thrower, is quite powerful, and is said to accelerate an egg-sized stone to an incredible speed.
The hobbit houses are somewhat cave-like, with only the roof exposed above, and oval wooden doors in their preferred architectural style.
With the increase of oval pocket signs on the roadside, and the density of houses, there are more pedestrians on the road, and it is full of dwarves, elves, and numeroles, and the rough laughter and the smell of gin are mixed together, which has a unique charm.
After the famous charremark of the red-roofed windmill appeared in front of him, Gutes finally breathed a sigh of relief, and it could be seen that he had been worried about the "Ringed Knight" chasing after him.
This is already a sign that the charr has been reached.
The whole Shire is built on several gentle curved hills, its streets are very similar to the winding mountain road, and the side against the mountain wall has been excavated into the form of a cave, and the wood decoration is decorated with the unique style of the hobbits, and the night looks up from a distance, like many brilliantly lit ribbons gently wound around the hills, which makes people have a particularly quiet and warm beauty.
Fang Senyan and the four of them chose an inn called "Black Lamb", where the signs are all smoked and burned, and the various animals tied to the door also indicate that its business is very prosperous.
After deciding where to live, Gutès, who had a solemn face, was also busy with something to deal with, after all, the returning caravan was all wiped out, this kind of thing is really not trivial, his foundation is also in the Shire, and he must have an explanation for everyone.
When Gust was leaving, Fang Senyan stuffed him with a small bag of tinkling things, which were the eight platinum coins that the foggy girl felt unwilling to stuff in the past, which was a huge sum worth eight thousand silver coins, and Gust seemed to be in need of money, so he accepted it very happily.
When the four of them entered the inn, they naturally greeted the guests with a warm hospitality, and they shuttled through the maze of small round tables and heavy wooden stools, breathing in the mixed smell of ham, fried eggs, toast, ham, ale, and pipe grass, and finally settled on an empty table next to the corner that was not very clean, and while waiting for the meal, Fang Senyan suddenly heard the person at the next table say loudly: "I've never seen anyone so bold, really, I swear by my pipe, and in order to get from here to Eriador, I didn't hesitate to spend a full thirty platinum coins, and more importantly, I tossed me one as a tip, which is why I have the money to treat you to the bacon that Sister-in-law Schucel has carefully prepared today."
There were at least a few hundred words per minute in the hotel, and Fang Senyan was only attracted by the words Eriador, because it was the only reason why he came to Shire, of course, and now he had to find the king's grass, but then he didn't hear any messages.
Soon, the dinner they ordered was ordered, but Fang Senyan did not rush to let the lame mustache entertain him away, but put ten silver coins on the table and said with a smile: "This is my reward for asking a few questions, well, and if the answer to the question satisfies me, then an extra twenty silver coins as a token of thanks."
The mustachioed guest first glanced at Fang Senyan with a puzzled gaze, and then put away ten silver coins: "I only have five minutes, and if I do, there's at least ten platinum coins that Queen Schucher in the back kitchen will peel off my skin."
Fang Senyan smiled and said: "Do you know where king grass is sold?"
The mustache guest muttered: "King grass, hell, what the hell is that?"
He then reluctantly asked: "Or you can wait another hour and I'll be able to inquire for you."
Fang Senyan raised his eyebrows: "The second and final question I'll be staying here tonight is, is there a firm here that specializes in selling plants or plant seeds?"
"You can find a lot of magic material merchants in the Staglands, Charr's pipe grass is famous, sages tend to rush to buy it, this thing is their indispensable spell casting material, most of the plants you need can be found there, sir, thank you for the silver."
The mustache took away the silver coin that Fang Senyan threw on the table, and suddenly turned around and added: "If you're visiting our hotel for the first time, it's better to put a little cream on the smoke."
Fang Senyan smiled and nodded, but he kept thinking about a question in his head: "Who is in such a hurry to get to Eliador, is this a damn coincidence, or is it still ominous and deliberate":