"What clue did you ask about?"
The bald-headed man stooped slightly towards the witcher, and asked in a somewhat flattering manner,
"Unfortunately, these children are too shy. They are like a group of shriveled turtles. They shrank into their shells with a little trouble. I didn't have time to ask." Arkham put the ragdoll on his elbow, Looking at the bald man's face, the morning light showed the thick soft fur on his face, but there was no expression of relief.
He wasn't worried about the witcher's private inquiries,
"Your Excellency Carl has ruled out the suspicion of Priest Xinni. The two monsters have no hair left, so is there no way to complete the purification before dark today?"
"Then it depends on how cooperative you are!"
"As long as you ask, I promise to know everything!"
Arkham thought about it,
"I saw a blond, brown-eyed, fifteen-year-old girl just now. She reminded me of a friend, so I'm a little curious about her background and how she came to the temple."
"A poor little girl, An Gulan," the big man answered honestly, although he wondered why he asked this digression, "a noblewoman quietly gave birth to her. It's a pity that this mother's vanity far outweighed her sense of responsibility, no I am willing to give my illegitimate daughter half the warmth, and take her to a distant relative in Lower Soden for foster care at the age of five or six..."
"No wonder this girl is so vigilant."
Arkham felt the same way. Children who have left their parents are rootless duckweeds. Even if they are taken care of by distant relatives, they can at most guarantee that they will not starve to death.
In comparison, I am much luckier, being absorbed by the witcher brotherhood, from a runny kid to a powerful warrior, with the power to protect and survive in troubled times.
Practice limited justice!
"Then the Nilfgaardian army invaded the north, and the battle of Sodden broke out. The area was affected by war. During the war, no one could tell what would happen tomorrow, so they fled to the north with Keville and Povis. "
The bald man looked outside the courtyard fence. A bush of kale was blooming tenaciously in the cold morning breeze, and a rosy wave rippled in the white snow.
"The journey was a long way, and they suffered a lot from starvation. When passing through the Songlin District, the family felt that they would not be able to support An Gulan even if they entered the city. The little girl who was only twelve years old at the time was regarded as a burden and discarded. At the gate of the temple..."
The big man wiped the almost non-existent tears from the corners of his eyes with some femininity, "All her relatives abandoned her, and she chose to throw herself into the arms of my lord, thus ending the bumpy and displaced fate."
He opened his arms towards the dormitory and said emotionally,
"Now that she has a stable life, I, Ms. Daisy, and the Dino brothers are definitely more responsible and reliable than her unqualified mother and unconscionable distant relatives!"
"So she was dumped twice?"
"Strange? All the kids here have a similar experience, losing family members in war, being orphaned, or having families bankrupt, parents unable to support them, living on the streets and in the wilderness. To tell you the truth, more than a third of them were Abandoned twice, even a boy was abandoned three times!"
"But the temple graciously and selflessly accommodated them." The big man said decisively, "If the children never leave, believe in the Lord firmly, this will be their home for the rest of their lives. Me, Dino, and Priest Daisy are all Their family forever!"
Arkham felt a bit contradictory, and his intuition told him that Dahan's statement came from the bottom of his heart, but Angulan didn't like the Temple of Rabiouda that much before.
"I can see that you have little talent in taking care of children, raising them as timid as mice."
"That's not all our responsibility," Bruzi said slowly, rubbing his neck, "the children suffered too much before entering the temple, and the harsh environment greatly hurt their young body and mind, This leads to such a cautious personality. It's not an old saying, sometimes the shadow of childhood will hang over your life for a lifetime."
The big man stopped talking, and looked not far away. Karl, the priestess, and Dino, who were carrying the burden of the corpse, finished discussing and walked out of the house side by side. Karl shook his head regretfully at his companion. Obviously, there was nothing to gain from the long conversation. But secretly winked at him.
Arkham got a lot of inspiration from Angouran, such as her last mention of the puppet, and the tattoo of black Greba... but there are still many doubts.
Instead, he suggested a tour of the temple.
The priestess readily agreed and accompanied the two to visit all the buildings: courtyard, kitchen, hall, bathroom, toilet, prayer room, the process was lackluster, even if the witcher's senses were fully turned on, they could not find a single paw print, or cobweb .
everything is normal.
The last round of the children's dormitory.
Arkham took the opportunity to make another request, "I said something to Angulan before, and I didn't have the opportunity to communicate with other children. They are afraid of life. Priest Daisy, please call them together."
The woman folded her hair and pleaded,
"No problem, but I hope that the two of you will be gentle and considerate. Fate has cast too many blames on them, and they shouldn't be hurt any more!"
"Don't worry, we were orphans once, and understand the pain," Arkham and Carl said in unison.
…
In the snow-covered white courtyard, eighteen children lined up in a square under the eaves.
Arkham saw the familiar Angulan at the end of the line. The girl craned her neck and looked at the horses in the shack, ignoring the two witchers.
The rest of the children looked timid and shrewd, their shoulders shrunken, their malnourished bodies as thin as bamboo poles and slightly hunched under their colorful shabby cotton-padded jackets.
The scrutiny of the two strangers made them restless, with blinking eyes, pinching hands, tiptoes, grinding teeth, all kinds of strange images.
The priestess stood among the children in her long robe, and several children clung to her tightly, pulling the hem of her skirt and the corners of her clothes, and were very close to her, like children relying on their mothers.
"Children, for the safety of the temple, next, you must answer the questions of the two masters honestly! If anyone's answer can help catch the murderer, add an extra potato to dinner!"
After these remarks, the pale and restless faces became brighter, and there was a little more expectation.
Arkham didn't talk nonsense either, holding up the puppet and looking around, "Has anyone seen it?"
A small head swayed like a dragonfly across the lake.
"You talk, man."
Arkham pointed to the boy at the head of the team, with a few small freckles dotted between the bridge of his nose. He didn't look very smart. He was thin and small like a chicken.
The moment he was called, he stayed in place as if struck by lightning.
"Du Lan, speak up like a man!" The bald man's huge fan-like palm pushed him out of the crowd.
Cold sweat appeared on the boy's forehead, scratching his ears and cheeks nervously, looking left and right, shaking his head,
"No, I haven't seen it!"
With a hint of weeping in his tone, he looked at his companions beside him for help, but a group of people retreated and isolated him.
"Poor boy, don't be afraid, we won't cut your head, come over and say," Arkham waved at him seemingly casually, waiting for him to dawdled closer, the positions of the three temple administrators when falling behind him.
Arkham stretched out his left hand like lightning to hold his left cuff, and his right hand grabbed his skinny little hand, and his hands reversed lightly and quickly.
Concealedly and quickly, he opened his sleeve, glanced at it, and closed it immediately—
Black Greba!
Dark cobweb tattoo!
The whole process was silent, even the boy himself didn't notice, and the others only saw Arkham put a piece of jerky into the boy's palm.
"Let's eat, a present for you. Are you comfortable? What's your name, how old are you, and how many years have you been in the temple?"
"Lampaya, twelve years old... um... me, I've been here for four years."
"So during this period, has the temple been attacked by something intruding from the outside? Think carefully."
Arkham raised his voice, making sure everyone could hear,
"Maybe you can't name them? Let me give you a hint, lynx, snow leopard, tarantula, or something like that!"
Lampaya suddenly looked back at Priest Daisy, encouraged by her motherly kind smile, and said timidly,
"No, if...if I have seen those things, I will definitely have an impression, and I will never forget them for a lifetime!"
Arkham nodded, raised his chin, let him return to the crowd, and exchanged another look with Carl.
"Does anyone have another answer?"
Two pairs of amber vertical pupils swept across the crowd - a tall and thin man with grey hair, a short man with a flat nose and buck teeth, a silly little girl with a marijuana braid... The children who were swept away were like being swept away. The little quail blown by the cold wind shook his head.
"Should your two gentlemen believe us?" Dino said, wiping his lush whiskers. "No one has ever seen a cat, spider!"
"That unfortunate accident," agreed Bruzzi, "is gone without a trace. Let the past pass away. The most urgent thing is to find another way to cleanse the two skeletons on your back."
"Maybe you're right." Arkham pondered, "but there is another possibility!"
His voice paused, then became penetrating and touching,
"Children, is there something threatening you, persecuting you, and preventing you from telling the truth?!"
"See the sword behind us?"
"Hundreds of monsters standing in front of us have all been slashed under the sword." Carl said in a sonorous and powerful voice, "Just say it, we are responsible for your safety!"
In an instant, needles fell in the courtyard, only the breeze was blowing and snowflakes fluttered.
The children held their breaths with pale faces, and lowered their heads in silence.
"What do you mean, Your Excellency!" The bald-headed man showed an absurd expression, he was deeply hurt by this question, the respect and flattery on his face no longer disappeared, and a pair of copper bells burst into anger, "We almost saddled the front and back, the two You have fulfilled all your orders, and you are still questioning us? Doubting our sincere dedication to these children?!"
"You misunderstood, I didn't necessarily mean you, I meant something lurking in the dark, understand?"
"Why are you still reluctant to believe us?"
There was deep sadness on Daisy's fair and pretty face, there were faint tears in her eyes, and her shoulders trembled.
"Could it be wrong for us to take in these orphans, work hard to feed them, and educate them?"
"Could it be that in the eyes of your witchers, everything is so sharp, black and white? Either justice or evil!"
At this moment, the children around her seemed to be strongly stimulated.
The cowardice on his face all disappeared, and there was tension and disgust and anger.
Some invisible force drove them to surround the two witchers step by step.
A dozen pairs of eyes glared at them, gnashing their teeth.
Including An Gulan, but there was a hint of pleading on her distorted face.
"Go, witcher!"
Young and sharp voices came one after another, passing through the quiet courtyard, the pine branches trembled, and the snow fell to the ground!
"Don't slander our family!"
"You are not welcome in the temple!"
They are roaring and screaming!
"leave!"
"leave!"
Arkham and Carl were at the center of the torrent, and their faces turned pale for a moment.
As long as the sword is swung, this group of fragile flesh and blood will wither in an instant.
But they seemed to be facing an unstoppable tsunami, retreating step by step, almost retreating into the stables.
The two of them had a scene from a few years ago, when all the brothers and sisters of the Gawain House were on the outskirts of Novigrad, facing the team of Eternal Fire, the Beggar King, and the Butcher, standing in front of the witcher teacher.
How similar.
They were so unrepentant at the time, but are the two really the same
Are we wrong to get to the bottom of it
Did those two children in the cellar die in vain
Are the struggles and entanglements in An Gulan fake? Just give up
No, he has other options.
"Sorry!" Carl took a few deep breaths, forced himself to remain calm, and looked at Arkham, who was pale.
"We're leaving right now!"
"Let's leave now!"