Chapter 2501: [Crystal Light]

Hearing Xia De say this, the tall female bartender "hummed":

"People who drink 'white flower fruit brew', this kind of fruit juice, should not touch alcohol. That pointed-eared friend finally sent you to pick up the goods? I thought she didn't want this thing anymore."

After saying that, she let Xia De wait a moment. She left the counter and walked up the stairs to the second floor. Not long after, she came back with a cloth bag, and inside the light yellow silk cloth was a stone slab.

Because he had to verify the goods, she specifically let Xia De check the stone slab with gloves. However, this was not a special item and did not contain elements. The value of this "antique" lay in the fact that the ancient fairy tale "Crystal Light" was engraved on the front and back of the stone slab:

【Once upon a time, under the protection of trees, ancient elves lived happily together in the forest. One day, a young elf girl in the tribe was patrolling the forest alone and met a traveling merchant chased by a wild wolf.

The elf girl saved the merchant, and the merchant gave her a beautiful crystal earring as a thank you. After returning home, the elf girl was surprised to find that the crystal made her see farther and run faster. So the next day she went to look for the merchant again to express her gratitude, and the merchant, who had not left the forest, asked the elf girl if she needed more magical goods, but this required her to pay a reward.

Thus, that innocent elf girl first obtained a crystal necklace that made her smarter at the cost of "hunting a wild boar," and then obtained a crystal bracelet that made her more beautiful at the cost of "cutting down a small piece of forest."

More and more crystals entered the elf girl's hands with the transactions, and she paid a greater and greater price for this. Those eternal crystals that could resist the erosion of time, the charming light they flickered, unknowingly let greed and desire gradually cover her eyes and bury her originally kind and pure heart.

One day long after, on a certain night that no one could record, the elf slaughtered her village in order to obtain more crystals to gain the power of eternal youth.

Thus, the traveling merchant smiled and turned her into an eternal crystal statue, letting her stand in the center of the forest, and then left here to look for the next transaction object.】

This fairy tale was obviously not a story brought by the outsider from his hometown, and this kind of fairy tale with admonition, warning, and awakening meaning was not rare in the past. The value of this fairy tale lay in the fact that it was a story of elves.

Therefore, although it was just an ordinary antique, this stone slab was indeed useful to Ringed Shushi. What's more, although the front and back were the same story, one side was the human language of the Fifth Era, and the other side was ancient Elvish, so its research value was even greater.

This stone slab had no problems. After completing the verification, Xia De didn't rush to leave, but according to the convention, he issued a long-term commission to acquire special coins in the black market of this city.

It was just a pity that perhaps because there were not many Ringed Shushi here, there were no special coins for sale here for the time being.

And when Xia De tentatively asked the female bartender about the local Ringed Shushi organization, the other party helped Xia De confirm that members of the "Hermit Group in the Forest" would indeed appear in Vista City occasionally, but those "hermits" lived in the forest all year round, and they only sent people into the urban area when they were replenishing supplies.

Because of this, Xia De wanted to contact these people and try to find clues from them. Not only the clues of Miss Danisite but also the expectation of the astrologer's clues a hundred years ago could only be disappointed for the time being.

"What? You want to ask how the city is recently? How else could it be, everything is very good. As for if you want to know if anything strange has happened here before, hmm, there are indeed some things that can be told to you."

The female bartender accepted the 1 Krona coin Xia De pushed to her, and also poured Xia De a glass of ale, and signaled Xia De to sit down outside the counter to talk:

"There are simply too many secrets in Vista Woodland. When this place was still Creekwood Town, the population was relatively small, and there were not many Ringed Shushi locally, so that era only left behind some ambiguous rumors and messages."

"It doesn't matter, I am just interested in this kind of thing, what are there?"

He sat down, confirmed that the female bartender in front of him was only a Sixth-Ring, and then took off his mask to reveal his disguised face.

Three kerosene lamps were hanging above the counter for lighting. The bright yellow light illuminated the handsome Northern-looking face. The female bartender raised her eyebrows, and her voice became a bit soft:

"It is rumored that a giant dragon appeared here hundreds of years ago. That dragon's dragon breath destroyed a large area of the forest, which caused the trees in the forest southwest of Creekwood Town to be relatively sparse, so the city is expanding towards that side."

"Another dragon?"

Xia De couldn't help but click his tongue:

"I mean, it couldn't be a dragon flying from Moon Bay, right?"

The female bartender was dazed by his smile, and her eyes were a bit wandering:

"That's hard to say. Now everyone knows that there are many dragons over there in Moon Bay. I think those large coastal cities have many monsters and evil cultists, unlike us here, which is so peaceful."

"Then besides dragons, are there any other sighting records of exotic creatures here? Like dwarves, elves, giants, vampire species, etc."

He continued to ask with a smile, and the female bartender immediately shook her head:

"There are too many such stories, but you don't want to know about the big things that happened here, right?"

"Yes."

"I wouldn't tell others, this is a story I heard before: In the era when this city was still 'Creekwood Town', about two or three hundred years ago, it is said that at that time..."

She lowered her voice a bit:

"It is said that an ancient evil spirit demon appeared here at that time. Because the town was too small that year, the priest and the Sect Ringed Shushi in the local church were not strong, and the accident at that time almost caused the destruction of the entire town, but fortunately, the matter was resolved smoothly later."

"Demons~"

Xia De couldn't help but click his tongue:

"I have read information about this kind of strange thing in books. For an ordinary small town, this is indeed a disaster."

"Yes, people say that thing ran out of the ancient ruins in the forest. Although there are no eyewitnesses to that incident in this era, the truth of the demon rumor is definitely much more real than the giant dragon just mentioned."

One of her hands was resting on the counter, and she seemed to like chatting with Xia De:

"I see that an outsider like you coming here shouldn't be just visiting friends. I have to warn you, don't have too much interest in this kind of thing, it will bring trouble to everyone."

"Please rest assured, I don't have such great curiosity. However, stories like demons and dragons all seem like rumors imagined by ordinary people. Historically, has anything definitely recorded happened here? Or, has Creekwood Town always been peaceful?"

"This... there really is one thing, but that is also a matter of a hundred years ago, probably around 1760 in the General Calendar. It is said that a special celestial phenomenon appeared centered on Creekwood Town at that time, and the entire night sky was dyed red by the blood-colored moon."

This was a matter of a century ago, so although the Sect tried hard to cover it up, most of the local Ringed Shushi had heard about it. I don't know exactly what happened at that time, only that the abnormality of the blood moon and the blood-colored starry sky lasted for about half an hour, causing great damage to Creekwood Town."

She yawned without caring about her image, but still secretly looked at Xia De:

"Besides this, it has always been very peaceful here. Occasionally, children or hunters entering the forest will disappear, and people rumor that the forest will eat people; or strange sounds of unknown origin will occasionally come from Creekwood Town and Vista Woodland, or someone will see strange phantoms, but this is also very common."

We are a city of music here, there are not so many big things, I only know these."

Xia De nodded:

"I noticed the things you mentioned, most of them happened in the Creekwood Town era. During the period when this city was transforming from a lumberjack town to a real big city, didn't anything happen here?"

"This depends on how you define big things. Things like relic out of control of course exist, but this can be encountered anywhere. Natural disasters also occasionally occur, but the last earthquake was also a matter of more than thirty years ago."

Sir, cities like Tobesk, Moon Bay, and Green Lake are ultimately a minority. Vista City is very peaceful. We don't have so many bad people and lunatics here. People believe that this forest has magical power and can exclude bad things."

It could be seen that the female bartender was still a bit proud when she said this sentence. She should be a local.

Seeing Xia De nod and not continue to inquire, she looked at the man's quite handsome face and reminded again:

"However, you came at a very good time. Vista City will hold music festivals of all sizes every autumn. Musicians from all over the country, and even from Delarion, will gather here in this season. They regard 'performing in the Golden Music Hall of Vista City' as the highest honor for musicians."

Xia De also knew the "Vista Golden Music Hall." This was the largest, most luxuriously decorated, and most professional concert hall in the middle of the Old Continent.

It was not within the scope of the old "Creekwood Town," but an abandoned temple building outside Creekwood Town. Musicians who fled to Creekwood Town due to political persecution in Kassenlik more than fifty years ago, because they were worried about disturbing the townspeople's lives, would gather in that abandoned temple outside the town to perform in their spare time. Over time, that nameless temple became more and more famous locally.

At that time, it happened to be the stage of Creekwood Town's transformation towards Vista City, so during the city's expansion, that sturdy old temple was transformed into the magnificent "Golden Music Hall" of today. ===== CHAPTER 2502 =====