The gunshots came from right above the hotel, and judging from the clarity of the sound, it was not coming from the nearest second floor, but more likely from the farthest fourth floor.
"Oh, damn it!"
The captain cursed quietly, put away his cards, apologized to Shade, and walked to the counter on the first floor with Lieutenant Hoyle, apparently intending to go upstairs with the hotel manager to check the situation. Before the local police arrived, they, wearing the uniforms of Delarion officers, needed to maintain the scene and check if there were any injured people who could be rescued.
The guests on the first floor paid their bills in silence and left the door, fearing that they would be dragged into trouble. However, Shad neither followed the two officers upstairs nor left with most people.
He stood up and asked for two glasses of low-alcohol cider from the waiter who replaced the bearded manager. Then, holding the glasses, he sat opposite the bard in the corner and pushed one of the glasses to him.
Although the kingdom prohibits the brewing of bootleg liquor, small-scale brewing of fruit wine in large hotels like this one is allowed. These two glasses of cider were brewed from the first harvest of apples from Mount Sikar this summer. Although they are not as good as the fruit wine from large wineries, at least they are cheaper.
There was a shooting upstairs, and the bard could not continue to perform. But leaving now would mean no other income for the day, so the poet huddled in the corner and waited. Seeing Shade sitting opposite him and even giving him a glass of wine, the poet also recognized Shade as the one who threw out two one-shilling silver coins just now:
"Thanks."
He said cautiously, not knowing what the young man in front of him was planning to do.
"You know a lot about the ancient legends of Midhill Castle and the Sikar Mountains?"
Shad asked.
"Yes."
The poet nodded cautiously.
"Since you can't perform now, why don't you tell me these stories. I can pay for your drinks this afternoon."
Although Xia De didn't say he would thank the other party with cash, it was nice to be treated to a free drink on this afternoon when it was obviously difficult to do business.
"No problem, you want to know something..."
Bang!
Suddenly, another gunshot was heard upstairs. Although it was two floors away, Xia De could tell that the sound was different from the previous one.
The poet was startled, but Shad didn't care much. Even if the ring warlock wanted to kill someone with a gun, he would use a silencing spell or something to eliminate the sound of the gunshot, so what happened upstairs definitely had nothing to do with the ring warlock.
"I want to know how many local beliefs there are, referring to the secret religions that are only spread in Midhill Castle."
Xia De had learned similar information from the information provided by the spiritual sect, but he still wanted to ask from the perspective of an ordinary person.
"The local secret religions... I definitely don't know as many as the Orthodox Church, but there are quite a few that are circulated privately."
Seeing that Shade was not afraid of the gunshots, the poet also became bolder:
"There are no local legends about evil gods."
When he mentioned the "evil god", he subconsciously shrank a little, and looked towards the staircase leading to the second floor. A few of the guests who had not left sat in their original seats, and the rest gathered at the staircase to watch the fun.
"But there are some special beliefs. The legendary old gods, the Twin Gods, are said to have stayed here. Therefore, local residents generally believe that twins have special spiritual powers."
“There is also such a saying in other places.”
Shade nodded, but the cult of the Twin Gods had long been destroyed, and the spiritual cult had taken root here, clearly recording the disappearance of the old cult, so there was no need to worry.
He and the poet talked about the special nature of "twins" for a few words, and then extended it to some local customs. During this time, two policemen who were patrolling nearby hurried over. One ran up the stairs under the guidance of a busybody, and the other blew the whistle to find help.
Two streets away is the train station of Midhill City. There are not only many policemen nearby, but also a well-equipped infantry company. Of course, the current situation does not require the help of the garrison.
"In addition to the old gods, there are some special beliefs in the local area."
The poet took a sip of cider and pointed in the direction of Mount Sicar:
“In addition, there is a very traditional local worship of mountains.”
"It is understandable that people live off the mountain and worship Mount Xikar, which feeds the city. It is also natural."
Xia De nodded, and the poet took a while to understand Xia De's stiff translation of "live off the mountain" before he understood:
"Yes, before Fort Midhill became the frontier between the two countries, it was a small town. At that time, there was no steam industry like today, and people made a living by hunting for local lords and tending orchards, so this localized belief was formed. But with the advent of the steam age, this primitive belief itself gradually died out, and now it can only be seen in the books of some folklorists."
This extinct primitive nature worship mentioned by the bard is not mentioned in the materials of the spiritual order. Perhaps the order believes that this kind of history is of no significance.
"Mountain worship... That's interesting. Did you know that Mount Sikar is an extinct volcano?"
Shade suddenly asked, and the poet took a sip of cider and nodded:
"Of course, since we are talking about extinct volcanoes, we must also mention another traditional belief in nature. In fact, there is a local tradition of fire worship."
"Fire worship?"
A police captain with a star on his shoulder, along with two senior police officers and a group of ordinary police officers, hurried in from the hotel entrance, with two doctors carrying medicine boxes in the middle. Two police officers were left to guard the first floor, while the others rushed up the stairs. But after the second gunshot, there was no more gunshot for a long time, so it seemed that the matter was over.
"Is this tradition of fire worship a nature worship, or is it a legend that a great being with the power of fire once appeared here?"
Shade asked curiously, waving to the waiter, asking the bard, who had already finished his cider, to order more drinks. While the bard was talking to the waiter, Shade took a sip of the cider in front of him. The taste of alcohol in it was lighter than any wine he had ever drunk, and was basically equivalent to juice.
When he saw the fruit wine, he somehow remembered yesterday's dinner.
"The fire worship tradition of Midhill Castle is also quite old. Although we no longer see large-scale sacrificial activities in the modern era dominated by the Five Gods Church, we can learn from those traditional stories that the autumn fire worship festival, a local special festival of Midhill Castle, originated here."
Xia De had also heard of the local festival, but the mainstream view nowadays was that it was a prayer for the dry autumn to prevent forest fires. After all, autumn is the most important season for logging, hunting, and picking fruits and vegetables.
He pondered and asked the poet these things, just to try whether he could get divinity in Midhill Castle like in Coldwater Port. But obviously, the religious situation in this inland city was much more complicated than he thought.
"Moreover, there is a saying that this natural worship of fire, which has been passed down since ancient times, has been absorbed by the Church of Nature."
The poet lowered his voice, knowing that it would be best if such words were not heard by a third person:
"However, if you want to know more about these things, you can ask Mr. Thales, the owner of this inn. Although he is a believer in the God of Nature, the Lord of All Things, he worships fire very much."
"clear."
Shad nodded.
At this time, footsteps were heard at the stairs again. It was the hotel owner with a sad face, accompanied by an armed policeman, who came to the first floor to get the account book.
"It looks like someone really died."
The poet, who had known the bearded boss for many years, shook his head:
"If someone dies in the hotel, it will have a huge impact on business."
The waiter brought the poet a new glass of wine. He probably still expected to perform normally in the evening, so he just asked for a glass of mild ale.
Shad paid for the second drink:
"Gemini worship, mountain worship, fire worship, this place is really interesting, maybe it can provide more inspiration for my new book."
He said this deliberately.
“Are you a writer?”
The poet asked curiously, and Shade nodded:
"An unknown writer, do you know the Hamilton Detective Stories serialized in the Steambird Daily? I want to write a new book based on this kind of detective novel, and I am currently collecting materials."
"Of course I know. This can almost be called the most popular story in Delarian this fall. The Steambird Daily is only distributed around Tobesk and in the central and western parts of the kingdom, but because of this serialized story, even in the Midhill Castle area, you can now find places selling back issues of the Steambird Daily."
When it comes to detective stories, the Bard has a lot to say:
"I also went to the post office to order a copy of the Steambird Daily, but it's a pity that it's copyrighted. Otherwise, I really want to adapt the story of Hamilton the Detective into poetry... It's such a coincidence that the final winner of the Big City Players, the Knight of Rheged, is also named Hamilton."
He failed to successfully connect the two.
Footsteps were heard at the stairs again. A senior police officer came down from upstairs, calling the names of the two male waiters on the first floor. The latter followed the policemen upstairs in panic.
"The taller one was in charge of checking the corridor windows on the fourth floor last night. He also complained to Thales about the drafts in the windows. The other one was in charge of helping guests on higher floors carry their luggage."
The poet told Shad that he was very familiar with the situation here.
"Is this the beginning of the interrogation phase? I wonder if anyone has died as a result of this."
Xia De said in a low voice, and then asked:
“Apart from Gemini worship and fire worship, are there other localized beliefs?”
There seems to be no belief in evil gods in the local area, or the poet dare not say it, so Xia De can only explore these more folk things.