After the month of recovery, the weather in southern Ansu began to warm up quickly.

It's a pleasant change for those working in places like Port Pier.

As the temperature rose, the frozen rivers began to thaw. The water frozen on the earth in the form of ice and snow melted into a trickle with the power of sunlight, and the trickle gathered into a stream and stream. Finally, as the glacier water flowed from the mountains was poured into the major rivers. As the water level rose, the number of merchant ships moving on the rivers gradually increased, and these merchant ships coming and going feed the porters who worked on the docks, commonly known as "mules".

Sam is an old resident of Tanzan Town. His family's settlement in this mine town can be traced back to a hundred years ago. When the outer wall was just built in this town and there were two trest bridges on the pier, his ancestor was a "mule" on the pier. Then this profession was passed down from generation to generation, to his grandfather, to his father, and finally to him.

His father and grandparents witnessed all the changes in this town over the past century, but for most of the time, the town actually had almost no changes - the city walls were still those walls, the trestles were still the trestles, the mines in the back mountain and the farmland outside the city could support limited population, and the land that the lord could manage was also limited. Therefore, when a town developed to a certain scale, no changes would necessarily happen in hundreds of years - the greatest thing he had witnessed in Sam's grandfather's entire life (and the thing he often brags to his descendants most) was that he had seen a trestle bridge added to the dock, and the lord built a mill to the south of the town.

And Sam, in the past two months, has seen three treks, two business banks, four warehouses and a new bridge rising from the southwest corner of Tanzan Town.

He felt that there would probably be more things he could witness in his life than his ancestors of all generations combined.

The ore output in the back mountain has increased several times in the past two months, and the merchant ships traveling on the river have also increased several times. There are also many strange machines and magical devices transported into the city. It is said that all these changes are related to the "Cecil Leader" in the lower reaches of the Baishui River that had just appeared not long ago. It is said that the lord and the Duke of Gowen Cecil reached an agreement and gained great benefits in this process, and the entire town became more developed...

But these things are not easy to understand for Sam, and he doesn't pay much attention to them. He only focuses on his work on the dock - and, to be happy, he has a lot of work.

As an old resident of the town and an old friend on the dock, Sam has an extraordinary position in this increasingly busy place. Although he is also a person who works for others and has to obey the assignment of the dock owner, Sam is the leader of the "mules" and more than a dozen people have to obey his instructions. This is what he thinks is the most "decent" thing.

Early in the morning, after coming out of the dark and tideful shed, Sam rushed to the dock to direct his brothers to load and unload the goods.

As the water level of the Whitewater River rises, large ships have begun to dock at the docks these days, most of which are from the north of the Carol Corps or the Holy Spirit Plain, filled with spices, tea and good cloth, which will be transported by caravans to the town's "civilian district" and the lord's castle, and then the empty ships will be refilled, mostly ore - they will then go downstream to the Cecil Corps, where the owners can make a lot of money.

"Everyone is quick-witted! It's early in the morning, don't be like not having a meal!"

Sam walked on the pier that was soaked by the fog in the morning, supervising the "mules" to carry the cargo from the boat. His red nose swayed uneasily in the fog, and a smell of alcohol seduced the greed in his stomach: the boat in front of him was also filled with good wine in half a cabin, one of which was probably a crack when swaying on the river, and the wine seeped out a lot of good wine along the hole, which was the best Karna wine. The owner was standing next to the springboard and sighing and frowning. He was afraid that he would compensate the merchant for a lot of money for the loss, while the mules full of tricks were scrambling to carry the broken barrel - they were definitely going to lick a few sips when people were not paying attention.

Sam shook his head. He would not risk being whipped for this temptation, but he was not prepared to stop those sloppy heads. Anyway, if they are lucky, they can taste good wine and go back to brag about it. If they are not lucky, they are just whipped.

Another ship approached the dock, Sam raised his eyes and saw that the ship had a high and wide deck and red-painted sideways. He looked sharply at the cover under the sideways (that was the location of the cabin) that had been opened, and several eyes were looking out of the narrow windows.

The curious and panicked vision was not like the sailors on the boat. Sam curled his lips, knowing that those were another kind of "cargo".

It may be a slave, or a refugee who came from the north, took a sailboat, but it was almost the same anyway.

After the construction of the New Cecil in the south, this "cargo" became a frequent visitor to the river. Basically, except for the days when the river was blocked in winter, several ships filled with people passed by here every day. I don’t know how much land and grain the new pioneer has, which can support so many people.

Sam didn't like this kind of ship that transported people very much - because this kind of ship often has no work to do. The owners usually collect money from the slave trader or the duke of "Gowen Cecil" and are responsible for sending people to Cecil. They stayed in Tanzan just to replenish some water and dry food.

But maybe some ship owners are just carrying cargoes, and other goods are piled up in their cabins, and the slaves and refugees sleep with the goods - in this case there are still some things to do.

Just as he was thinking of this, Sam saw the master of the dock in the distance waved to him, then raised his hand to point at the ship with the red side of the ship that had just approached the pier. Seeing this instruction, he quickly stopped his random thoughts and accelerated his pace towards the ship.

The boat leaned firmly, and the springboard was put down. A boat boss in a brown cotton coat came out and nodded to Sam: "Call a few neat mules, and remove the barrels in the cabin."

Sam greeted enough people, then jumped onto the ship himself, followed the boss to the hatch, opened the cover, he looked inside and looked.

He saw that the cabin was filled with barrels, and there was almost no place for people to stay, and the owners he had seen before, who were in panic, were curled up in the gap between the barrels, each withered and pale faces.

Sam frowned. The people were so embarrassed that they even sat down and rested, let alone lay down, and didn't know where they came from and how long they had been in such a bad environment - but one thing was obvious that these people were definitely not as valuable as those wines for the ship boss.

But strangely, these people were not ragged slaves, nor did they look like refugees. Several of them even wore decent wool clothes - where did these people come from?

While the guys were working, Sam went to talk to the sailor standing beside the supervisor. He didn't dare to talk to the ship owner, who was a real decent person. He asked about the origin of the "ship passengers" in the warehouse who were not human or ghost, but were wearing good clothes. As a person who made a living on the dock, he asked about some things on the ship, but the capital he bragged to people in the tavern after he returned.

"They are from the Holy Spirit," the sailor spitted to the side, "fled."

"The Holy Spirit Plain? That's far away!" Sam showed a look of surprise, "What are they doing when they ran so far?"

"It's all the Blood Gods, and there are several Shadow Sects," said the sailor casually. "It is said that some people in their local churches have an affair with cultists, and even those who often enter the church are suspected to be heresy. The Holy Spirit Plain is so powerful that the murder of cultists has been killed. Thousands of people have been burned to death in the Inquisition of the Holy Light Church - these people can't survive in the local area, so they turn into sellers and escape."

As he said, the sailor shook his head: "Three more died on the road. I was afraid of getting sick, so I threw them into the river."

When Sam heard that he had something to do with the cultists, his hair tightened all over. When he looked at the passengers on the cabin, his eyes became awkward when he looked at the people - he looked at them, as if there were really a few cultists hidden among them.

"Look at your timid appearance - these people don't get off the boat, they will be sent to Cecil," the sailor leader couldn't help but shake his head when he saw Sam's appearance. "But it's up to you whether Cecil wants these people. After all, it's related to heresy... If not, these people will have to be thrown into the wilderness, but that's better than burning to death."

Sam wiped his red nose and suddenly felt a little awkward.

What he believed in was the Blood God.

The wind that had already started to warm up seemed to be getting colder again at this time.

And at the same time, Cecil led the only church of Holy Light, the Reverend Wright ended his morning prayer.

He was a devoted believer, a priest who was passionate about preaching—although many people would be deceived by his powerful appearance, Wright himself knew that he was never a man who liked to put things into force—especially imposed on his fellow countrymen.

The Lord of the Holy Light protects the world and teaches the art of holy light that can heal and exorcise evil to fragile mortals in order to protect the world. Therefore, the essence of the Way of Holy Light should be to protect, not destroy - so Wright tempers his flesh and body, because he hopes that even when it is time to eradicate evil, he can use power outside the Holy Light to attack the enemy, so as not to defile this power that is used to soothe and protect people.

This is his persistence. He knows that this persistence is a bit stupid, but he has no intention of changing it.

But a letter sent to the church a few days ago made him a little confused.

Wright cleaned the church prayer hall, then sat in the front row of seats, took out the church letter from the plain of the Holy Spirit from his arms, and read the above again.

"...Evil breeds, pagans are active...all ignorant believers in the alien God are polluting the pure faith in the world... The Lord hopes that this land will be restored to purity and clear the confusion in the hearts of mortals. Wrong faith is the solution...

"... Therefore, those who do not obey the guidance of the Holy Light and do not agree with the Lord's teachings... are heresy..."

The white letter paper was kneaded into a ball, but it was unfolded again, flattened, folded and folded.

Wright looked up at the bright skylight of the church and the sacred statue of the holy light that shone brightly in the skylight sunlight.
Chapter completed!