Chapter 2433 ()° Is his territory so ‘big’?
When Edkin, Simon, Holgai and Doric were heading to the high tower prison 'End of Pleasure' in Icewind Dale to ask Foch, the former lord of Neverwinter, about certain matters, they stayed there
The paladin Henk Yenda in Neverwinter City who is responsible for managing the security of Neverwinter City and commanding the Neverwinter Guards to protect the safety of Neverwinter City is certainly not idle.
Today, he has been walking back and forth in the castle's meeting hall since around noon, and his brows have been furrowed, as if he has something important waiting to be discussed with someone.
Little girl report?
But unfortunately, until the sun began to set in the west, the people he wanted to wait for had no intention of showing up.
"!!"
"The Queen is up?"
Finally, when he saw those beautiful and young maids passing by the castle corridor outside the meeting hall carrying silver trays, water, towels and other tools for washing, Henk was shocked, and then hurried out and stopped them.
After meeting them, he asked politely.
"ah!"
"Is it Master Yanda?"
Seeing that the person who suddenly appeared was the upright and kind-hearted paladin, the general of Neverwinter City, Henk Yanda, the maids first exclaimed, and then barely suppressed their emotions.
He said excitedly and with a face full of joy:
"That's right!"
"The Queen is indeed up."
"She just finished washing and bathing, and should have gone to the restaurant to eat now."
"Master Yanda, do you need us to inform you that you are waiting here?"
Then, the leading maid asked with bright eyes and expectancy, not concealing her admiration and affection for Henk Janda at all.
"No!"
"I'd better go by myself!"
"You are busy with your business."
Unfortunately, Henk had something on his mind right now and ignored their burning eyes and expressions as if they wanted to eat people. He just nodded towards the women and then walked quickly past them towards a certain place.
.
"oops!"
"Sister Enid, Lord Yanda still seems to be so confused about amorous feelings!"
"He doesn't pay much attention to you."
"Isn't it?"
"Shh..."
"You all keep your voices down, don't let him hear!"
"Pity."
"Such a handsome and upright man, but he is a staid and stupid guy!"
"correct!"
"I heard that he is still a Serbian?"
"Um."
"Didn't you all see the mark on your head?"
"Indeed!"
"But Yanda-sama is different from ordinary Ser people, right?"
"But also a Ser!"
"..."
"Well, I heard that he escaped from Serre from the hands of that evil great lich. Counting all in all, he has lived for tens or even hundreds of years!"
"Sister Enid, are you sure you still like to be like him?"
"But he doesn't look old at all!"
"You are indeed not old!"
"Maybe... he might be an undead or a lich!"
"It's really possible!"
"okay!"
"You all should just say a few words. No matter who he is, our queen trusts him, and he seems to be a nice person, so that's okay, right?"
"that is!"
"Stop talking and leave quickly!"
"After the Queen finishes her meal, we have to wait on her."
"Hurry up, let's go, let's go..."
Just like that, after chattering and joking for a while, the group of maids finally stopped and continued to do their business.
What they didn't know was that all the words they had just discussed were heard by Henk. After all, he was famous for his good ears. However, he did not react much and his mind was not there at all.
A group of young and beautiful maids walked quickly to a certain exquisite wooden door in the middle of the castle with a solemn expression, pushed it open and walked in.
"Her Majesty the Queen!"
"I have something I need to report to you!"
Then, after seeing that Anne was indeed dining in the restaurant, Henk breathed a sigh of relief and strode up to Anne to salute and said.
"here we go again……"
()
"What's the matter? Can't you wait for others to finish their meal first?"
(゜-゜)
"Really!"
ε=(ο｀*)))Alas
Seeing this, Annie first sighed habitually, and then whispered impatiently:
Don't come to her about those messy things, big or small. Anyway, she doesn't like to care about it, and she doesn't like to hear about it. Besides, if she hadn't had enough fun in this world, there are still many delicious things that she hasn't been able to eat.
Maybe she had run away long ago and left them to their own devices. Why would she stay here and play the castle queen's house game with them?
"If it doesn't work, you should go find Uncle Edkin and the others to discuss it together!"
o(*^*)o
"They seem quite free?"
(⊙o⊙*)
"Although I haven't seen them for several days..."
(▽)
After thinking about it, Annie suggested again.
After all, the Federation of Heroes in the Koprulu Sector has become so big, controlling countless planets and cosmic planes, but they have never bothered her. And these guys in front of her, for the city of Neverwinter,
Such a tiny little shitty place is always talking about something happening here and there, and its ability to do things is ridiculously poor. If it continues like this, even her stupid little bear will be able to compete with these people!
(…)
(●￣￣●)
"Edkin?"
"They went to the Icewind Dale Prison in the north a few days ago. I'm afraid they won't be able to come back in a short time."
"So, this matter must come to you!"
Henk Janda remained unmoved and just stood in front of Anne's desk and explained with a little anxiety and helplessness.
"Going to Icewind Dale Prison?"
()
"But didn't they just escape from there before?"
=(*)
"Why are you going back again?"
(‖)
This statement surprised Anne a little, and then she quickly swallowed the meat in her mouth and asked quickly.
Anyway, Lady Queen Anne is definitely not interested in that kind of shabby place where there is ice and snow and lack of supplies, and she won’t go even if I beg her!
"I'm going to question an important prisoner."
"You should know that this is the Fuch you asked your subordinates to capture back then!"
"And today, what my subordinates have to report is also related to what they have to do."
Henk continued to stand at the table and explained simply and patiently.
Actually, he wanted to report what happened yesterday. At that time, the troubled little guy in front of him, the Queen of Neverwinter, had promised him that she would go to the meeting hall to find him after eating, but the result...
After the other party was full, he immediately went off to play wildly and didn't come back until midnight, so he was left hanging in the meeting hall all day?
then!
Today, he didn't want to be fooled anymore. He directly took advantage of the opportunity of the other party to have lunch and breakfast to find him and explain everything clearly.
"That's right"
(~)
After hearing what was going on, Annie looked at the other person, then ate the food in front of her table, and began to think wildly, without rushing to respond.
"Do we have to report today?"
(O ^~^ O)
"Can't you just wait until they come back and deal with it yourself?"
(^～^;)ゞ
"Oh well!"
ε=(ο｀*)))Alas
After looking at each other for a while, and seeing that the stubborn and rigid Uncle Henk in front of her had no intention of accommodating or compromising, Anne had no choice but to sigh and signal to the other party:
"You can say it now!"
(,,,,)
"Although people may not like to hear it..."
(~)
Then, while continuing to eat, she waved her greasy hands to ask the other party to tell him if he had anything to say.
"Her Majesty the Queen!"
"Here's the thing!"
"In the two months since you took charge of Neverwinter, we have discovered a lot of Serge spies. Obviously, their master, that Sazastan, must have some other ulterior conspiracy?"
"In addition, the red robe witch Sofina was eliminated by Edkin and the others. I think Sazastan will definitely not be happy about this."
"so……"
"It's almost certain that they must be plotting some evil plan against our Neverwinter City again!"
After seeing that Anne was finally listening 'carefully', Henk stopped talking for a moment, and then began to talk slowly, summarizing, analyzing and reporting what he knew and some of the findings from the beginning.
"etc!"
()
"Sazastan...who is it again?"
(﹃`)
At this point, Anne suddenly spoke up and interrupted the other party's report, and then asked with a confused look on her face.
"..."
Opening his mouth, Henke was speechless.
Because, he clearly remembered what he had said many times before, and Sel and the evil great lich Sazastan were bedtime stories that people in the Sword Coast region had heard since childhood. People often used them to scare those who were disobedient and evil.
Logically speaking, Annie should have been familiar with children who do not sleep on time.
but……
Looking at the confused and curious look on the face of the troubled little girl in front of him, Henk thought that it was obviously impossible for the other party to know, and he had to explain patiently again:
"Sazastan is a notorious fellow."
"He is cold and ambitious!"
"Originally, he was the chief mage of the Necromancy School in Sel. He was one of the most influential red-robed mages. He was a great lich who had lived for more than two hundred years. He launched a coup and conspiracy many years ago, bringing down the entire world in one fell swoop.
Cyr destroyed and ruled over the evil kingdom that is now filled with the dead and wraiths!"
"Before, the red-robed witch Sofina and Fudge had conspired to destroy Neverwinter and turn the Sword Coast into another Ser Dead Zone, but fortunately you stopped them."
"But he obviously has no intention of giving up. He is still sending various spies and assassins towards the Sword Coast and Neverwinter City. I have discussed with Edkin before and I feel that he must have some kind of conspiracy.
?”
"The day before yesterday, we captured another spy from their perimeter."
"After interrogation, we got a very important piece of information: the undead spies from Serre seem to be in close contact with a certain sect in Leilong Town. Then, some clues have repeatedly pointed to the Swamp of the Dead. It seems that they are in the Dead
Does the swamp have a plan?"
"But what a pity!"
"That person is just a peripheral member of them and knows very little."
"But even so, things are developing in an uncontrollable direction. Therefore, I feel that I must inform the Queen that you are aware of it, and it is best for Neverwinter City to prepare in advance?"
Anyway, everything was said, and then, Henk directly said all the important things that were going to be reported.
Now, he is waiting for Edkin and the others to return.
If the four of them could really get some important clues and conclusive evidence from the cunning and insidious Fudge, everything would be much easier to handle.
"??"
く(＾_)ゝ
"Leilon Town?"
(ー`ー)
"Where is that place?"
(^～^;)
Anne blinked, then frowned and thought for a while. She couldn't think of anything, and then she suddenly continued to ask with a confused look on her face.
"..."
"That is the jurisdiction of your Neverwinter City."
"On the south side of Neverwinter."
"Go south along the road, south of the Junction Fortress, and look across the Swamp of the Dead from the Castle of Thorns in Waterdeep City. At the same time, that is also the border with Waterdeep City."
"It's about two hundred miles from here?"
Sighing, looking at the Neverwinter Queen in front of him who didn't even know her own territory, Henk finally had to bite the bullet and explained this with a bit of laughter.
"Huh?"
!(;o)o
"Is this place so far away still someone else's territory?"
(ˊ)
"People thought it was just this Neverwinter city!"
(▽)
Anne was actually a little surprised, because she had always thought that the only territory she won belonged to this city, and to the south were the lords and nobles she had met in Waterdeep City and Baldur's Gate?
"In fact..."
"From Leilong Town in the south, to Luskan in the north, to Xingtieshan and Chang'an Town in the east, this large area, including Neverwinter Forest, is considered Neverwinter City, which is your territory."
"It's just that the control in some places is currently relatively weak?"
For example, in Thunderlon Town, the current Queen Anne has just replaced Lord Neverember not long ago, and she doesn't know what Lord Neverember said to the people there when he went south to Baldur's Gate, so that the local officials seem to
Have you always had some resistance to the change of ownership of Neverwinter?
Of course, those are just trivial matters, and Henk doesn’t want to talk about them today.
"It's actually that big?"
(ω)
"What about the west?"
|ω`)
Anne did the math and found that her territory in Neverwinter was quite spacious, and then she continued to ask.
"Dear Her Majesty the Queen..."
"To the west of Neverwinter is the sea and the Sword Coast."
"Is it possible that you still want to dominate the sea?"
Opening his mouth, Paladin Henk once again expressed his helplessness to the Neverwinter Queen who didn't even know how big her territory was.
"Yes!"
(**;)
"It is indeed the sea, people almost forgot about it!"
(*^▽^*)
She was startled for a moment, then nodded suddenly, and then Anne said with a smile that she had remembered this matter.
Although it is not impossible to occupy the sea, after all, there is no serious navy in this world, and there is no exclusive economic zone, so naturally there is no such thing as territorial sea.
"Then what?"
(￣～￣)Chew!
"Is there anything else?"
()
Then, Annie continued to eat while asking again.
"..."
Hearing this, Henk looked up and stared at Anne in disbelief and didn't say a word for a long time.
When he first came here, he said he was here to report the matter. Now that the matter has not been finished and the other party has not given clear instructions, why did he want to drive him away after just a few words?
But fortunately, he seemed to have been mentally prepared for a long time, so he didn't have any reaction. He just sighed in his heart before continuing:
"Now all the clues point to Leilong Town and the Swamp of the Dead, so..."
"Her Majesty the Queen."
"For the safety of Neverwinter City, I want to go and investigate in person!"
"I hope you approve?"
Yes, this is the real purpose of what Henke is going to report today!
In view of the frequent activities of those Serge agents between Neverwinter City, Leilong Town and the Swamp of the Dead, in view of the 'Dragon Cult' in Leilong Town and some unknown risks in the Swamp of the Dead, he felt that it was necessary for him to do so now.
Just go and investigate, we can't wait any longer for Edkin and the others.
"oh!"
(*⊙o⊙)
"Then go!"
(￣～￣)Chew!
"What's so embarrassing about this kind of thing?"
(*⊙~⊙)
Anne agreed without thinking. At the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little strange. She didn't expect that the other party would bother to come to her for such a trivial matter.
"..."
Seeing Anne's answer so confidently, Henk was choked up again and didn't even know what to say.
"Her Majesty the Queen..."
"Do you know what the Swamp of the Dead is?"
Then, he paused and thought again and again before hesitating and asking tentatively.
"I do not know!"
(▽`)
"What is that place?"
(^^)
Annie swallowed the food in her mouth first, then picked up a bowl of hot soup before asking in a crisp voice.
"..."
There was no other way. Henk, who had long known that this would be the case, sighed in his heart, and then slowly spoke again and explained patiently:
"The Swamp of the Dead is a mysterious and dangerous place in Faerûn between Neverwinter and Waterdeep and close to the Sword Coast."
"Is it considered some kind of interface between the realm of the undead and the natural world?"
In this way, while Anne was eating and was relatively patient, Paladin Henk began to use his expertise that Edkin had always criticized and considered to be very, very 'verbose', and began to talk endlessly and quote scriptures at length.
Talking.
"It is said..."
"A long, long time ago, that place used to be a beautiful forest and lake?"
"But a terrible disaster destroyed everything there and turned it into the dangerous area full of undead and demons it is now?"
"According to legend, the cause of that disaster was a mysterious female mage. She tried to summon a powerful upper demon through dark magic, but something went wrong with her spell, causing a dark energy to burst out and spread.
To the whole area.”
"That energy swallowed up all living things in the area and turned them into undead. It also attracted many demons and other evil creatures to invade there."
"Since then, the Swamp of the Dead has become a place full of danger and unknowns, more dangerous than the underground city!"
"Although many adventurers have tried to go there to find the legendary lost treasures, without exception, they often died because of encountering the undead and other evil creatures."
"And, over the years, the evil power there has been continuously increasing. Some people think this is because the evil soul of the female mage still exists there, and her powerful magic and dark energy are still spreading?"
Having said this, Henk paused and looked at Anne, confirming that although she was busy eating, she was indeed listening carefully, and then continued to add:
"certainly!"
"There are also some authoritative historical data that indicate that the formation of the Swamp of the Dead was actually due to a terrible ancient war?"
"It is said that an evil army once carried out a terrible large-scale massacre and destruction there. The multiple effects of magic, corpses, ghosts, etc. made the land no longer suitable for habitation, so the war ended.
After that, it became a forgotten and polluted area?”
"Over the following centuries, the Swamp of the Dead became home to demons, evil spirits, and a variety of other evil creatures."
"Those creatures continued to expand their territories and launch attacks on the surrounding areas. In order to protect themselves, humans and other races began to stay away from the swamp and build walls and fortresses to prevent the invasion of those evil creatures."
"The town of Thunderlon in Neverwinter and the Castle of Thorns in Waterdeep came from this."
"For countless years, in constant conflicts, some humans and other races began to be tempted by darkness. They compromised with evil and joined the camp of evil creatures. Those people became the new rulers or evil forces in the Swamp of the Dead.
The sect began to use dark spells and spells to expand their power."
Speaking of this, Henk couldn't help but frown when he thought of a certain sect in Leilong Town that was said to have been attacked by the 'Harper' many times but never showed restraint.
Obviously, he himself does not seem to know the specific origin of the Swamp of the Dead, but that does not prevent him from extracting some important or reliable ones from the books and rumors he has read and presenting them to
Anne makes a report.
"Anyway!"
"The Swamp of the Dead is a dark, unclean and evil place that seems to be controlled by a mysterious evil sect."
"so!"
"Your Majesty, I need your authorization to go to that place personally to investigate?"
Finally, after looking at the stuffed bear on Anne's desk, Henk made up his mind and asked firmly, knowing that Anne did not need to worry about his safety.
"Then you go!"
☆(o*ω)
"Why should you tell others?"
(ψ｀▽′)o
Anne didn't think much about it at all, and just agreed without hesitation.
"this……"
"Your Majesty, do you know what's in that swamp?"
Although he had already expected that kind of reaction, Henk continued to ask again anxiously.
"I know!"
(*^▽^*)
"Didn't you just say that it was a dark, unclean place full of evil activities?"
|ω)
That kind of place just didn't sound fun, it seemed far worse than a voodoo place, so Annie had no intention of joining in the fun.
"really!"
"But there are dragons there too!"
"As far as I know, the two chaotic and evil adult black dragons 'Black Death' and 'Greedy Reaver' live in the center of the Swamp of the Dead, entrenched in the partially sunken fortress above the flooded tunnel maze?"
"So, my subordinates need support!"
"We need the help of Hibberchard, His Majesty's 'fat orange'!"
Seeing that everything that needed to be said had been said, but Anne still looked indifferent and even a little impatient, so Henk had no choice but to speak quickly and plead with such a lord.
This time, in addition to investigating, Henk also had the intention of deterring certain local forces in Leilong Town. Moreover, for his own safety, he thought it was better to bring the giant dragon Xibochard, also known as 'Fat'
It might be better if it's orange.
After all, there are rumors in the Sword Coast area that Henk is a dragon knight, and if there is no dragon to follow, then it is more or less unworthy of the name.
"Fat Orange?"
(**;)
"But it has eaten too much fish recently and has become fatter. It crawls very slowly and can hardly fly. Are you sure you still want to take it with you?"
(⊙o⊙*)
Annie was quite surprised that the other party was so optimistic about Fat Orange.
Anyway, she has almost given up on that giant dragon, because ah, it is even lazier than her Lady Queen Anne! If someone takes the initiative to feed it, it will lie down on the edge of the dock every day to eat.
I can't eat, sleep, or move much anymore. Now not only is my neck gone, but all four legs are probably going to be gone too!
At that time, maybe we can no longer call it 'Fat Orange', but should call it 'Rub and Round', just like the 'Fat Pufferfish' with wings and inflated air?
"No problem!"
"We can go by sea!"
"Thunderlon Town and Swamp of the Dead are both adjacent to the Sword Coast. It will be faster to take the sea route!"
Although Henk also admitted that 'Fat Orange' was indeed a little too fat, almost disgracing the dragon's face.
But no matter what, the opponent is also a giant dragon, which is the power he needs to rely on and can use to intimidate others.
"Oh well!"
ε=(ο｀*)))Alas
"You just need to take it with you directly."
(＿＿*)
"In the future, you can take care of this kind of thing on your own, so you don't have to ask anyone else!"
(O ^~^ O)
After all, Fat Orange is just a useless pet that was caught and raised on a temporary basis. It is not fun at all!
If the other party hadn't mentioned it, Anne would have almost forgotten it. Therefore, since the other party needed it, she naturally had nothing to refuse.
(…)
(●￣￣●)
…
—————————
(ω) Monthly ticket~it’s the last day of the month!
☆(o*ω) It’s the last day, hurry up and get your monthly tickets!
Chapter completed!