Game of the World Tree - Chapter 811

811. Chapter 807 Free People (ask for monthly tickets!)

“Shit! These damn noble pigs! They should all be caught by the trial knights and hung on the street for a good beating!”

Old John pouted, turned up his sleeves and looked at the bloody whip marks on his arms, his face full of anger.

His hair was messy, as if it had not been washed for a long time, exuding a sour smell. His skin, red from the sun, was deeply wrinkled. If he didn’t say it, no one would even believe that he was less than 35 years old this year.

He limped down the street, cursing as he walked.

Suddenly, a team of well-equipped knights riding tall horses passed by the street in a mighty manner, and Old John was so scared that he quickly rolled to the side in embarrassment.

This kind of knight lord who was loyal to the nobles was the most unreasonable. If he couldn’t dodge in time, a free man like him would die and no one would care.

The dust was flying, choking him and making him cough many times. His face was covered with dirt, and the scars from the whip on his body seemed to have cracked even wider, making him grimace in pain.

“Shit! It’s all shit!”

Old John cursed and climbed up.

Feeling uncomfortable under his feet, he looked down and realized that he had accidentally lost his shoes when he was dodging.

“Where are my shoes?”

Old John was anxious and started looking for them quickly.

He only had this pair of shoes left, and he couldn’t lose them again.

When he found his other shoe on the side of the road, it was almost crushed.

It was done by those knights.

“Shit! It’s all shit!”

Old John was even more angry.

He put on the broken shoes, revealing several toes that seemed to be covered with mud. He moved them a little and they were barely okay.

“That’s it.”

Old John sighed and limped towards the church.

He had to find a priest to treat his injuries, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to work for the next few days.

The nobles were all shameless people. The wages owed to him could not be recovered. If he could not find another job in a short time, he might starve to death.

In this world, there were too many refugees like him who fled from the south and starved to death.

To be honest, he now regretted not getting off the ship in Zeroland with those non-believers when he went north.

I heard from the bard in the tavern that life in Maple Moon Free Territory was like heaven. Immigrants there would be properly settled, and those with skills might even be assigned jobs and residences. It

was so enviable.

Thinking back to his experiences over the past year, Old John’s expression became more and more gloomy.

However, there was a big premise for immigrating to Maple Moon Free Territory.

That was that one had to give up the original faith and convert to the Goddess of Life.

This was difficult for Old John, who had been a devout believer of eternity since childhood, to accept.

At least… it used to be.

After arriving in front of the church of the Eternal Church with difficulty, Old John hesitated slightly when he looked at the neat and beautiful building.

Speaking of which… when was the last time I came to the church?

I can’t remember.

He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he last came to the Eternal Church.

When he first came to this small town in the Northern Territory, he would go there to pray once a week.

At that time, he had not spent all his savings.

But now, he is just a poor guy with nothing, struggling for a living every day.

In addition to his status as a freeman.

Old John looked at his tattered clothes, and then at the well-dressed believers coming and going in front of the church, with a look of trepidation.

He didn’t know whether he should step in.

This church, which he used to be accustomed to, now feels like two different worlds to him, which brings him great pressure.

“What are you afraid of? I am also a devout Eternal believer! When I was in the Southern Territory, I donated silver coins to the church!”

Old John encouraged himself and suppressed the inferiority in his heart.

Taking a deep breath, he limped up.

However, before Old John could enter the church, he was stopped by the servants at the door:

“Hey! Stop! What are you doing?”

“My lord, I… I want to find the priest to treat my wounds.”

Old John raised his head and looked at the servant with the sun emblem on his chest with some trepidation, and squeezed out a flattering smile.

The sun emblem is the symbol of the Eternal Church, symbolizing the first sun, judgment and power.

These servants should be the newly recruited reserve knights of the church. Recently, the church seems to have been recruiting more knights. Old John also heard from the tavern that someone had received the favor of God and jumped from an ordinary person to a high-ranking silver professional, which made him very envious.

Unfortunately, these knights must be recommended by nobles, or have strong extraordinary talents. Ordinary people like him have no chance at all.

Looking at Old John’s embarrassed appearance, the servants frowned slightly.

“If you want to enter the church, change into decent clothes, otherwise it is disrespectful to the gods! In addition, one treatment costs five gold pounds. Are you ready?”

They said expressionlessly.

“Five… five gold pounds?”

Old John’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Wait, sir… doesn’t the church’s primary treatment only cost five silver coins? When did it cost five gold pounds?”

he said in a lost voice.

Five gold pounds means five hundred silver coins, and he couldn’t earn that much even in a year.

Old John’s daily salary was only one silver coin, and even then it was often deducted by the nobles… after deducting expenses, there was nothing left.

Now, he only had ten silver coins on his body, and he had saved them with great difficulty. He originally planned to save up twenty to buy a new set of clothes and new shoes.

“Silver coins? He actually said silver coins?”

The two servants laughed after hearing this.

After laughing, they looked at the tattered old John with contempt and said:

“That was a long time ago. The world is in such a mess now. People come to the priest for treatment every day. The church has to recruit knights. How can the priest handle it? Now the priest can only perform intermediate treatment, five gold pounds per time!”

“But…but I only need primary treatment.”

Old John said nervously.

“Are you teaching us how to do things? Or teaching the priest how to do things? Five gold pounds, if you want to see it, then see it. If you don’t want to see it, then don’t block the way here. There are still many believers who want to enter the door!”

The servant frowned and said.

Old John opened his mouth and wanted to say something else, but finally fell silent.

Clutching the few silver coins in his hand, he lowered his head and limped away.

“Poor guy, you still want to come to the church for treatment, don’t you look at what you look like!”

The servant’s sneer came from behind, like a steel needle piercing Old John’s heart.

He paused slightly and felt a little uncomfortable.

A gorgeous carriage passed by him and entered the church yard. Faintly, Old John heard the voice of the servant again:

“Hey, isn’t this Lord Baron Hermann? Why are you here? Come in, come in… The priest has been talking about you for a long time!”

The voice was flattering.

Old John looked back at the arrogant nobles in gorgeous clothes and the church servants with flattering faces. It was summer, but he felt a little cold for some reason.

He felt a little blocked in his heart.

He wanted to spend three more silver coins to donate to the church, and then listen to the pastor’s teachings and talk about his troubles…

but he didn’t expect that he couldn’t even step into the door of the church.

“Oh, the noble pigs and the servant pigs should all be beaten! They should all be punished by the gods!”

He muttered in a low voice.

The voice was inexplicably hoarse.

The scorching sun hung in the sky, and Old John dragged his injured body and limped to the Black Walnut Tavern.

The tavern was filled with the pungent smell of sweat, inferior wine, and strong perfume, which was suffocating, but Old John was used to it.

This was the cheapest tavern in the slums of the city, gathering a large number of drunkards, idlers, refugees, and low-level adventurers.

Although they were called low-level adventurers, they were actually apprentices or trainee warriors who had mastered extraordinary powers, and occasionally, they could see professionals of the Black Iron rank.

Such high-ranking extraordinary people were absolutely not seen in the Black Walnut Tavern before.

However, since the magic power of the entire world has increased significantly, more and more people have awakened extraordinary powers, and such former big figures have now become commonplace.

The bard’s unremarkable music sounded in the noisy tavern, drowned out by the noise of drunkards and adventurers.

Old John looked over and found that many people were playing Gobang, while the adventurers gathered together to play Gwent, surrounded by many onlookers.

From time to time, cheers could be heard.

Even Old John was attracted by his interest and wanted to go over to see how this game, which was said to have come from the Elf Forest and Maple Moon Free Territory, was played. However, thinking of the business, he finally held back.

“Give me a jug of premium beer.”

Old John sat on the bar and took out a silver coin with a heartache.

The bartender looked at him in surprise and joked:

“Old John, have you made a fortune? You are willing to drink premium beer?”

“Shit! I want to make a fortune! I have worked in the mine for half a month, but I didn’t even get a silver coin!”

Old John said depressedly.

As he said that, he rolled up his sleeves with a grin. It was too hot and he was sweating. His sleeves were already stuck to the wound.

Looking at the bloody wound, the bartender was stunned:

“How did you get hurt?”

“It’s all because of those damn nobles! The mine was not destroyed by us, and they took out all their anger on us!”

Old John said hatefully.

“Destroyed?”

The bartender was stunned.

As if he had thought of something, he came close to Old John and asked curiously:

“So… the rumors are true? A dragon came to the gold mine? It took all the gold and the newly discovered magic stone mine?”

“Of course it’s true, I saw it with my own eyes! That dragon… is as big as a mountain… so fierce!”

Old John gestured.

It seemed that his wound was pulled, and he grimaced in pain again.

“Your injuries are a bit serious, don’t you want to go see a priest or herbalist?”

The bartender frowned.

After hearing his words, a trace of sadness flashed in Old John’s eyes. He chuckled and said self-deprecatingly:

“I wanted to… but I didn’t even get into the church.”

“Why?”

“No money.”

Old John spread his hands.

The bartender was speechless. He looked at Old John’s tattered clothes and sighed.

He had heard that the church’s treatment fees have been getting higher and higher in recent years.

“Here, your beer.”

“Thank you…”

Old John took the beer and opened the lid.

The aroma of the wine filled his nose. He sniffed it intoxicatedly and smacked his lips.

It was the first time for him to buy this kind of high-quality beer. One pack cost a full silver coin.

You know, if it was low-quality beer, you could buy ten packs!

Of course, it is called high-quality beer, but compared with the real pure beer, it is still a world away.

However, beer is originally a drink for common people. Nobles simply disdain to drink it.

They usually drink wine, fruit wine from the Elf Forest, and white wine.

I think it’s called… Erguotou?

That’s what the bard said.

However, Old John didn’t order beer to drink.

Under the surprised gaze of the bartender, he carefully poured out the wine and sprinkled it on his wound.

“Hey, old John, what are you doing? Are you crazy?! If you don’t want to drink it, give it to me. I’ve hardly ever had good beer!”

“Hey, what do you know? I’m disinfecting! Otherwise, with such a deep wound and such a hot weather, it would be bad if it gets worse.”

“Disinfection? What nonsense…”

“You don’t know this, do you? Wine can disinfect. It is said that it can… kill small animals in the wound, um… some small animals we can’t see. It’s those small animals that make the wound worse.”

“Nonsense, who told you that?”

“The street bard.”

“Do you believe the bard’s words?”

“He said he was brought here by Fengyue freely. This is the method the elves told him.”

“Elves…”

After hearing what old John said, the bartender raised his eyebrows and was speechless for a moment.

In recent years, the name of the elves has become more and more famous. People in any city on the continent know about the rise of the Elf Forest.

Not only that, the elves seem to know a lot of lost skills and knowledge. It is said that some of the contents have amazed the legendary wizards of the Mage Tower and are extremely sought after…

Thinking of this, the bartender also secretly wrote down this method and planned to try it out in the future.

“I don’t know if it will heal tomorrow after spilling the wine. The mine is gone. I have to find a new place to work tomorrow…”

Looking at the deep wound, Old John sighed.

“The mine? It’s better not to go to that cursed place. I heard that many people who go to mine are sick. Look at you. It’s only been a year, and you look more than 20 years older.”

The bartender shook his head.

“What can I do? I don’t have any skills. I used to be a farmer. I have nothing left after escaping here.”

Old John sighed numbly.

Hearing his words, the bartender was also gloomy for a while.

In recent years, more and more refugees have fled, and people who starved to death can be seen on the roadside every day.

There are wars everywhere, demon invasions, beast tidal waves, and even the weather is weird. This year, the entire Fertile Plains has suffered a severe drought, and the grain harvest is not good, but taxes have risen again…

“The Maple Moon Free Territory is still better… I don’t know when this mess will end.”

Old John sighed.

“That’s the credit of the Church of Life. Do you know that it is said that the priests in the Maple Moon Free Territory personally used divine magic to make rain.”

The bartender shook his head.

“Divine magic to make rain?”

Old John’s eyes widened.

“Yes, that’s the goddess of life and nature, naturally understand? Not to mention rain, it is said that some divine magic can make crops mature within a day! Since the Maple Moon Free Territory believed in the Church of Life, no one in the entire territory has been hungry again!”

The bartender said.

“Goddess of Life…”

Old John’s expression was a bit complicated.

In recent years, the name of the goddess of life has become more and more famous, or in other words, more famous than the name of the elves.

Even the bards on the streets often tell stories about the goddess of life, which often attracts a lot of audiences…

Fighting against evil gods, protecting believers, spreading knowledge, and sending down divine arts…

It is precisely because of her existence and the existence of the Church of Life that the Maple Moon Free Territory can recover quickly after the war and become more and more prosperous.

It is in stark contrast to the empire.

There is no harm without comparison. Thinking of his experience in front of the Eternal Church just now, Old John felt more and more uncomfortable, more and more sad, and more and more disappointed.

“But the most beautiful place should be the Elf Forest, right? I heard from the merchants in the caravan that the elven city there is as beautiful as a palace, and the life is rich, like heaven… But only elves and half-elves with elven blood can settle there.”

The bartender sighed.

“Elves… I have never seen an elf, but I saw a half-elf once when I was in the southern border territory, at an auction house.”

Old John said.

“Auction house? That should have been many years ago, right?”

The bartender raised his eyebrows.

“Yes, many years.”

Old John nodded.

The two chatted casually to pass the time.

Wine was sprinkled on the wound. Except for some discomfort at the beginning, Old John gradually got used to it.

At this moment, the door of the tavern was suddenly pushed open again.

Two tall figures with gorgeous equipment walked in.

The bartender looked over and was slightly startled.

The whole tavern gradually fell into silence.

“Elf…?”

_(:з」∠)_ Although there is no update, this chapter has a few more words, hey!

(End of this chapter)