Xiao Chen took out the two unused headscarves from his pocket and examined them carefully. "But these headscarves look rough. They should be made of the lowest quality coarse cloth and then dyed with some color. There are no magic words or magic circles on them. I can't feel any magic power at all."
"Your thinking is limited. Not everything involves magic. Magic arrays and other things require a huge cost. Who would use them on such a large scale?" Luo Ling took one of them and looked at it for a while. First, she looked at it against the firelight, then pulled it hard, and finally put it to her nose. "Found it! It has a smell."
Xiao Chen also picked up one and smelled it. It indeed had a faint fragrant smell mixed with some herbal smell. "But it can't be smelled from a distance, and it doesn't feel anything when you smell it."
"Don't you feel that the air among the crowd is filled with this smell?" Luo Ling said after taking two deep breaths, "That means there must be a way to stimulate this smell."
Xiao Chen analyzed: "Everyone was quite normal when they put on headscarves at the beginning, but things started to get a little weird when someone took the lead and started dancing. The biggest difference between before and after is that these people were singing and dancing, and their bodies were emitting heat... Could it be due to the heating?"
Luo Ling lit a small flame on her fingertips, then placed a headscarf on the fire to slowly heat it up. Xiao Chen leaned over to smell it, and sure enough, a scent that was several times stronger emanated from it.
After Xiao Chen took a few puffs, he felt his heartbeat quicken and his body began to stir again.
"That's it!" Xiao Chen calmed himself down and deduced, "It doesn't have any magical fluctuations, so it looks like a special potion. Judging from the source of the cloth, could it be that someone is using the opportunity of the palace event to plot something?"
Luo Ling recalled: "The guard said that these people would eventually gather in the market area for a bonfire party. If someone is plotting something, it's likely to be there."
"Then should we..." Xiao Chen looked at Luo Ling.
"Of course, if we don't go and find out, how can we feel at ease? Publicly, we don't know what kind of ending these innocent people will face, and privately, we don't know whether the conspiracy will harm our companions."
"Ha, great minds think alike. Let's go!"
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Meditation world.
Tasia was in her room, hugging a pillow and sitting on the bed in a daze. It was obvious that she had not recovered from the shock just now.
Xiao Chen's distracted mind came over with a cup of hot tea and said, "Come, have a sip to calm your nerves."
"What's the situation outside?" Tasia looked concerned.
Xiao Chen sat on the sofa in the room and said, "My guess is right. Someone is doing something wrong outside..." He told Tasia the characteristics and symptoms of the medicine found outside.
"I feel like I've heard of this symptom somewhere..." Tasia thought.
Xiao Chen said: "According to what we say there, this medicine should be a stimulant that puts people in a particularly excited state."
Tashia's eyes lit up and she said, "I remember now. I heard that there is a plant called red thread grass on the orc plains in the north. If you dry it and grind it into powder and heat it with fire, it will have a strong stimulant effect.
Originally, the orcs often used this as a stimulant when fighting the Purple Eagle Empire. However, it was later discovered that the red thread powder would make the orc warriors, who had little discipline, completely uncontrollable, and once the wind direction was wrong, it would motivate the warriors regardless of friend or foe. Often, not only the own side was driven crazy, but the enemy was also driven crazy. The actual combat effect was not good, and there were often some ridiculous battles, so the orc tribes gradually stopped using this powder. "
Xiao Chen asked in confusion: "Something from the orc tribe? It's not easy to smuggle it through the empire into the kingdom."
Tashia said, "That's not necessary. I heard that red thread grass is also produced in the north of the empire. Some merchants in the empire refine red thread powder and sell it to the orcs. The empire's alchemy technology is much higher than that of the orcs. It is said that the red thread powder produced in the empire is considered top-quality in the orc empire and is more popular than that produced by the orcs themselves."
"Didn't they say that orcs don't use this on the battlefield?" Xiao Chen asked curiously.
"However, some orc shamans use red thread powder in witchcraft rituals. It stimulates the life energy in the bodies of people around them, making the shaman's witchcraft more effective. Also, orcs are belligerent, so they will use this in duels to make both sides kill to their heart's content. They will also use it in the arena to make the beasts go crazy, making the fights more exciting. Anyway, these are all crude and disgusting uses, and I heard about them as anecdotes in the aristocratic circle."
"Could it be that someone is planning to cast a spell in the capital, using these people gathered together for the New Year as materials? If such a large scale is required, the effect of the spell must be terrifying, right?"
"This is too sensational. The capital has many masters led by two saints. Who would dare to do such a thing in the capital? The Time Saint Sasso and the Thousand-foot Sword Saint Benegas are simply not people these sneaky guys can afford to mess with." Tasya stood up from the bed and walked around the room.
She analyzed them one by one: "Even the Imperials wouldn't dare to do this in the capital, as it would lead to full retaliation from the Kingdom. Both sides have just ceased fighting, so they need enough time to breathe. The Southern City-States are only thinking about business and won't do such a thing. The Orcs are even less likely to do this, as they understand that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And even if a Saint were to do this, it would most likely be a one-way trip. After all, a Saint is still a human being, and even the most powerful Saint would fall if he were surrounded by so many masters."
"It's not so easy to guess the force the opponent belongs to. After all, what we see are just things on the surface." Xiao Chen touched his chin and said, "As for the executor, there are only a few possibilities. Either the opponent is a madman who is not afraid of death and came here with the intention of dying together. Or the opponent's spell will not leave any obvious traces, and he is enough to slip away before the saint arrives. Or... he knows that even the saint can't stop his actions. For example, the saint is involved in something..."
"But even if there are no saints, there are still several great magicians like Master Kona. There are also several great knights and great swordsmen in the Royal Guards, not to mention Priest Roland and others in the Temple of Nature. Is this really possible?"
"Those headscarves were distributed through the city guards. The mastermind behind this probably has tentacles in the city guards or the palace, and his magical powers are very powerful."
"Then do you still want to go? It seems that there is a very dangerous situation involved." She stopped and looked at Xiao Chen and asked seriously.
"certainly!"
"Well, then. You should quickly take back your distraction, so that you can exert your full strength outside." Tashia walked in front of him and said with her head down, "Be careful. But no matter what happens, I, I will be with you."