The town of Antillion, where Agurto is currently located, is one of the most prosperous towns near Zulugaia. It is not only a major thoroughfare connecting other city-states, but also the largest supplier of rainbow fruit wine nearby. Many Zulugaia nobles and merchants own their own holiday villas in this town.
Borlando has been here many times, and he even owns a share in a winery. The rainbow fruit wine produced here is colorful and sweet, and is considered to be of high quality in the entire continent. Therefore, the town of Antillion is often filled with the aroma of fruit, wine and a joyful atmosphere. The people here are also usually playful and laughable, and it is one of the best places to live in the nearby city-states.
But when Borlando and Ganor walked into this place on the afternoon of the day they attacked Millianna, they felt a tense atmosphere in the town. When the two of them, wearing the priest robes of the Temple of Nature, walked on the street, people avoided them and were unwilling to make eye contact with them.
"What's going on? The last time I came here, the kids were chasing me, but now there is no child on the road," said Borlando.
"I did see two, but they were dragged into the room by the adults and the door was closed," said Ganuo.
"How strange." Borlando looked around and found that there were fewer and fewer people around them.
"Since they are not afraid of you, they must be afraid of the clothes we are wearing." To be fair, the reputation of the Temple of Nature among the people is still acceptable, especially in areas outside the kingdom, where believers are at least much stronger than many city lords and kings. Ganuo has been to so many places, and he has never seen people who are so afraid of priests.
However, when they walked forward for a while and approached the central square, Ganno saw the source of this fear.
There were several large trees around the fountain in the middle of the square, and on the trunks of the trees, there were corpses hanging one after another. Some of these corpses had already begun to dry up, while others had been hung there for a short time and looked relatively fresh. The corpses swayed in the wind, and a faint stench drifted over with the wind.
Ganuo found that these people were old and young, male and female, and even very young children. But these people had one thing in common: their clothes looked good, and it was obvious that they were not from ordinary families.
Bollando's face suddenly changed. "How could this happen? Aren't the people hanging on this tree the family of the mayor of Antillion? The one hanging on that tree is the owner of the largest manor nearby! And the one hanging on that tree is the owner of the largest winery. These people are the most important people in the town, and they were all hanged to death."
"Who else could it be? It must be that Aguerto." It seemed to Garno that the mayor's family had been under arrest for several days. It seemed that they were the first to have a conflict with Aguerto.
There were several Temple Knights standing guard in the town center square. When they saw Gano and Borlando wearing priest robes, they hurried forward.
Borlando recognized these people as members of the nearby Knights of the Rock. One of them saluted the two and said, "Lord Borlando, how did you come to this town?"
"Adio, what's going on? Why were these people hanged?" Borlando stared at Adio and asked.
Adio's eyes flickered. He looked at the ground and said, "These people are spies of the false god. After their problems were discovered, Lord Aguerto executed every one of their families."
"A spy of the false god? Don't you know the details of these people? The leader of your Giant Rock Knights is from this town, and he seems to be a distant relative of the mayor here. Several of your knights have married girls from this town. No one has come out to say anything?"
"Lord Agulto is a saint. Our captain only listens to him now. The mayor... he was the one who hanged the mayor himself."
“It’s really crazy.”
"Lord Borlando, please, please be careful with your words. Don't let such words reach Lord Agulto's ears. Anyone in the Knights Templar who is reported and talks about him behind his back will not have a good ending." Adio pointed to a tree in the distance. There were several sturdy men wearing green shirts of the Knights Templar hanging on it. "Those are all members of our Knights Templar. They were hanged because they said something they shouldn't have said."
Borlando panted and suppressed his anger. He rescued Adio and pulled him aside and asked, "After executing these people, what has Aguerto been doing these days?"
"My Lord, please don't embarrass me."
"So many people have seen you with us, can you still explain it?" Ganuo said, "Then tell us what we want to know, and we will let you go."
"He... He occupied the big house of the mayor's family, captured all the beautiful girls from the confiscated families and had them serve him. He also captured many women from civilians' homes. Then he stayed in his room every day and didn't come out. He just asked our captain to come out and capture the false god believers everywhere." Adio said.
"Is he still in the mayor's house?" asked Ganuo.
"Yes." As soon as Adio finished speaking, Borlando and Ganor suddenly felt the air around them getting hot.
Then Adio showed an uncomfortable expression, his face turned red, he grabbed his collar with his hands, bent down, roared twice in a low voice, and flames began to come out of his body.
The flames came from nowhere and instantly swept over his whole body, turning him into a blazing torch.
Borlando and Ganuo quickly cast water magic on him, but the fire was so fierce that the pale flames burned him to charcoal in a very short time. The flames were like an intelligent elemental spirit, withdrawing from the charred body, and then gathered a human figure on the side. The flames faded, and a sturdy man appeared in front of Ganuo and the others. He was wearing loose pajamas, revealing his hairy chest, and looked at Ganuo and Borlando with a hint of disdain.
Ganuo didn't need to guess that the man in front of him must be Agurto, the Saint of the Divine City who was dominating the town. It seemed that his best method should be the fighting spirit field related to fire. Judging from his actions just now, his control over fire has surpassed many magicians who are good at fire magic.
Borlando's voice trembled a little: "Master Agulto, why do you do this?"
Aguerto said: "I hate people who talk about others behind their backs. Such people tend to die early."