Although it is still impossible to determine the specific time and place where he is currently, Hao Ren can still roughly infer his "landing point" for this retrospective from the surrounding building style and Vivienne's handwriting records—if the guess is correct , he and Lily should be between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, and judging from the accents of passers-by, this should be in France, but it is impossible to determine which city it is.
However, being able to roughly judge the age is already a great convenience. At least Hao Ren can determine what kind of identity he should be active in the current historical period: a safari demon hunter who is hidden in human society and acts independently. .
Before setting off, he asked Hasselblad and Whitefire about the witcher in detail. As the most powerful influencing factor in the entire mythological age, the race of demon hunters is a group that Hao Ren is destined to have to deal with frequently throughout the historical journey, and their information is the most crucial information for this retrospective journey. After cramming, Hao Ren learned that even in the era of the most intense conflicts, demon hunters were not a group of crazy hunters instigated by fanaticism and hatred as ordinary aliens imagined, although they were indeed driven by fanaticism. and hate-driven, but their actions and organizational structure are always full of reason and discipline.
In addition to the Saints, which are the ruling institutions, and the Presbyterian Order, which guards the North Pole and almost never sets foot in the world, the demon hunters' troops that roam the human world are mainly divided into three categories:
The first category is the "Crusaders", which is equivalent to the frontal legion, also known as the "war regiment". This organization was very active during the mythical war. It directly destroyed all the mythical kingdoms in ancient times, and was the promoter of all the "Twilight of the Gods". However, after the end of the mythical era, this first-line army lost its meaning of existence, so it gradually disintegrated and reorganized into the second and third categories force;
The second type of troop is the "hunting troop", also known as the "hunting group". They are an elite combat troop composed of a small number of demon hunters, usually ranging in number from dozens to hundreds, and are mainly active in the age of mythology. In the later period and in the dark age after the end of the Age of Mythology, the armies of the "gods" had collapsed at this time, and there was no longer an epic battle like a thousand troops sweeping across the Great Plains of Gelut, but the remaining exiles after the collapse of the "gods" Sects and small groups of heresy worship are still growing in the dark. The so-called centipedes are dead but not stiff. Even if these exile sects decline, they can often control one or two towns, and the "hunting group" is a professional team used to deal with these stragglers;
The third type of troops can no longer be called troops. They are actually a completely scattered armed force called "safari". Safari hunters are usually demon hunters who act alone, or occasionally form a team of two or three people. The active period of these combat elites is similar to that of the second type of troops. They are masters of independent combat. Behind the slits of civilization, these solitary combat elites tirelessly played the role of sweepers. The rural villages and wild places that the hunting group could not take care of were the places where the hunting demon hunters showed their talents.
The two armed groups of the hunting group and the safari are not completely separated. Under certain conditions, they are actually one, or can transform into each other: if the elite hunters in the hunting group pass certain tests, they will be qualified to go hunting alone , so that they become hunters, and if there is an emergency (such as a group of remaining heresy gods found in a certain place), the hunters who are active in the vicinity will be called immediately to form a hunting group to participate in the battle .
Hasselblad once told Hao Ren that the organization of the Demon Hunters is indeed full of discipline, but even a well-coordinated group will have loopholes. In the battle sequence of the Demon Hunters, the third type of troops is the most likely to take advantage of loopholes: Those wandering witchers who lived alone and moved secretly.
In the barbaric area where the "remnant" forces of the alien species are still strong, the connection between the wandering demon hunters and the organization will be extremely weak. They will even go deep into the enemy's hinterland in order to hunt and kill. Some extremely cunning prey will even change their appearance completely, and even keep their identities hidden when in contact with other demon hunters—this may sound unbelievable, but under the premise of the phenomenon of "innate hostility", everything can be explained . Regardless of whether they are demon hunters or aliens, when they face each other, they are used to judging whether the person in front of them is "not my race" through their hostile instincts. As long as they see each other and do not have the urge to draw a knife, they can rule out the identity of the enemy, so The process of confirming the identity of two demon hunters after they meet is actually not as strict as imagined, especially among hunting demon hunters.
Now a "different number" appears in this time and space, that is Hao Ren: he is a complete "different number", but he will not cause innate hostility in front of anyone, which makes it easy for him to take advantage of this biggest problem. loopholes.
The insurance identity he set for himself was that of a safari witcher.
To be on the safe side, he borrowed a whole set of witcher disguises from Hasselblad before he set off, all of which were genuine ones, and only the enchanting craftsmen of Corpus could make them. If you go to ancient times with this set of tools, even if you meet an elder demon hunter, you don't have to worry about being seen as a fake. But now he is only equipped with the holy silver dagger that can symbolize his identity and some talismans and spell cards, because a safari hunter will not be fully armed at all times, and disguising as an ordinary person is their usual method.
Medieval French towns, like all other places in Europe at the same time, were shrouded in a dark and gloomy atmosphere, especially at night: the curfew system strictly prohibited people from going out during this period, and the vigorous witch hunt was even more serious. It's dangerous, there's little entertainment after dark, and residents don't even dare to make loud noises even in their own homes, lest they be denounced as "witchcraft" by informants: a cemetery-like silence The streets and alleys of the town shrouded in darkness.
Only the night watchmen and cavalry who were patrolling the town dared to walk on the streets swaggeringly at this time.
The flames of the Renaissance had been ignited in the cities of Italy, but the flames had not yet reached a small town in a remote part of France, where darkness had long lain.
Hao Ren and Lily walked through the empty streets and alleys, while avoiding those night watchmen who would cause trouble, while concentrating on perceiving the sight of the ominous birds that might be hidden in the darkness: the latter was one of their targets.
"It stinks everywhere in here," Lily complained disapprovingly. She had torn off the hem of the long dress that made her very uncomfortable, but its length still made the husky girl very uncomfortable. I still have to lift my skirt while running, and that’s all. What’s even more annoying here is the smell that can never be avoided in the streets and alleys.” Speaking of which, I only saw it in books before, but I didn’t expect that medieval European towns were really like this. It stinks."
"Even big cities don't have much awareness of public health these days, let alone towns that don't know if they're cities." Hao Ren was also displeased with the smell around him, but he was glad that his nose wasn't as good as Lily's It's so sensitive, so it hasn't reached the point of being unbearable. "If this environment didn't lead to frequent plagues, the witch hunt wouldn't be that serious."
"Speaking of which, landlord, do you have an idea?" Lily asked Hao Ren in a low voice while enduring the strange smell around her and trying to distinguish the possible strange smell from it, "Would you like to find Vivienne in such a dark place?" In a deep sleep, why do I feel that the difficulty is so high... "
"Of course we have ideas." Hao Ren has always been confident, "First of all, our 'landing point' will definitely be near Vivienne's sleeping place, so we don't have to worry too much about the geographical scope. Unusual paranormal occurrences, which are bound to attract some folks: alien survivors seeking power and heritage, or witchers who come here by smell, the latter two will lead us to the right place So our first step is to check the situation, see if there are any legends of ghosts and ghosts nearby, preferably recent events, and then go to investigate as an exorcist... Anyway, this is the best I can think of There is a solution. Of course, if this method fails, I have a follow-up plan, which is to make a big fuss, which will attract the demon hunters in all likelihood, and then I will change my appearance and find a way to sneak into the team of demon hunters. See if you can steal their local surveillance records, there must be valuable clues in them. However, the second option is very dangerous, and more importantly, you must not be exposed to the demon hunters, so at that time you Best to go back to the 'safe house' and stay..."
The "safe house" that Hao Ren called was the hunter's lodge embedded in the boundary of time and space. By luring the locals to do the test, Hao Ren had confirmed that the hunter's lodge was a well-deserved safehouse that only he and Lily could see and enter.
"I think the first plan is better." Of course, Lily didn't want to stay in that still black and white cabin, "Don't worry, landlord, I'm not afraid even if I meet a witcher... Oh, it's definitely not stupid to confront them head-on Lah, can't I run if I can't fight? I have a special bloodline. Even if there are innate hostile factors in this 'old body', its hostile reaction is not so strong. It is easy to get out of the demon hunter's eyelids. I slipped away from the bottom. And if it doesn’t work, I’ll pretend to be the ‘prey’ you caught... If you meet a different kind, you can pretend to be the prey I caught, ah, if you think about it this way, the combination of the two of us is simply invincible?”
Hao Ren: "..."
He doesn't know whether the combination is invincible or not, but this dog's logic is really invincible!
At this moment, Lily stopped suddenly.
"Wait," she said to Hao Ren in a low voice, "There is someone in front... I smell the potion."