Chapter 17 Potato Roots
The wind with a foul odor blew in from the cave, making people hold their breath. The entrance of the cave was not big, but the cave was very spacious.

In the light of the torches, skulls of various shapes were scattered on the ground, and the matte, glossy or frosted bones were emitting a vibrant luster.

In front of the Road of Bones was a trench, from which came a strong smell of blood and rust.

Following Father Cosset, several brave young men protected Horn and Jeanne as they walked deeper into the cave.

While letting the meat shields, led by Father Cosse, explore the way ahead, Horn looked around the cave itself.

Walking to the edge of the cave, Horn reached out and touched the gray-white wall of the cave.

This rough and solid texture is exactly the same as the cement in my previous life.

Looking up at the semicircular arch, Horn discovered that there were no load-bearing columns in the cave, and it was entirely supported by an unknown gray-white arch.

"This is mortar." As a refugee who has traveled all over the country, Jieshka recognized what it was at a glance. "The evil wizards use a magic called turning rocks into mud. This magic can turn rocks into a special kind of mucus, usually called mortar. After drying, this mortar will be as hard as stone."

"So, this is a wizard's stronghold?"

"Not necessarily. In fact, many nobles or priests would buy this mortar on the black market when building churches or castles."

"black market?"

"Yes, the wizards in Black Snake Bay often entrust mortar to the secret party to sell on the black market. As you know, the black market in Thousand River Valley is basically controlled by the secret party and cultists."

Horn nodded and stepped forward over the dry bones on the ground.

As for the young and strong men at the front, they were now gathered in front of the trench, pinching their noses and talking in low voices.

Horn walked forward, and before he could say anything, he was almost suffocated by the stench of corpses coming from the trench.

In the trench, there were rows of long metal spikes. The corpses and skeletons of various animals were pierced on the sharp spikes, fermenting a strong stench.

The most conspicuous among these corpses was a villager lying on his back.

He was probably about the age of a junior high school student and had died not long ago when a long thorn pierced his throat.

The bright blood flowed down the inclined ramp and into a pit.

The small pit was filled with blood, but there was not a trace of bloody smell, but instead a hint of milky aroma.

In the small pit, two pink creatures the size of thumbs were floating in the blood.

"It's the devil rabbit's cub!"

"No wonder they didn't attack him, it turns out they knew he was here to feed their cubs." Busak suddenly realized.

Jeanne showed a look of pity. She walked forward, endured the stench, stretched out her hand, and pulled the villager out from the long thorns.

Reaching out to close his wide eyes, Horn said to the young man beside him, "Carry him out and send him back to the camp with the brave archer."

He asked a young man to use a handkerchief to fish out the two baby magic rabbits. Horn grabbed their heads without hesitation and twisted them off.

This kind of sinful object that carries the blood of others should not appear in the world.

Up to now, Horn and his crew have made enough noise, but the legendary Green Pied Piper has still not appeared.

Holding a torch in one hand and a butcher knife in the other, Father Cosset stood in the first row and headed deep into the cave.

Surrounded by the crowd, Horn and Jeanne walked all the way to the bottom of the cave, but there was still no sign of the Pied Piper.

There was only a pile of hay and a few broken boxes in front of him. Father Cosset was standing at the edge of a crack as high as a person, staring at the crack in a daze with a pale face.

In the crack, there was a bone flute.

The other end of the crack was obviously ventilated. Whenever the wind blew, a whimpering flute sound would slowly move forward in the wind.

I thought it was something else, a flute was causing trouble.

Horn couldn't help but cover his forehead.

Being with this group of villagers who were mumbling in a weird way every day, his thoughts also started to become weird.

He winked at Jeshka who was standing by, and Jeshka walked forward very sensibly and pulled out the bone flute through the handkerchief.

Taking the bone flute from Jeshka, Horn handed it to Jeanne: "Jeanne, try to blow it."

As the king of monsters, this evil creature may have little impact on her, and Jeanna is the safest test subject.

Without a doubt, Jeanna picked up the bone flute, gathered her air and blew it hard.

The next second, it seemed as if the sound waves became tangible and spread out to the outside world.

All the villagers present seemed to have heard something terrible, and they covered their heads and cried out in pain.

Some people with weak constitutions even had blood flowing from their noses.

Horn did not hold Jeanne's hand this time, but he was still not affected at all and could only hear the simple unpleasant noise.

Why am I not affected? Is it because I am a time traveler and my soul is stronger?

Taking the bone flute from the somewhat bewildered Jeanna, Horn carefully wiped the saliva on the flute with a handkerchief, but suddenly found a crack on the flute.

Horn originally wanted to try it himself, but when he saw the crack, he gave up.

"How does it feel when it blows?" Horn asked, facing Jeanna's dissatisfied look.

Jeanna frowned: "I feel nauseous and want to vomit."

He roughly understood what had happened. Someone must have stuffed a bone flute into the gap. When the wind blew, the bone flute made a sound, luring animals in the forest to come in.

If these animals died at the hands of the magic rabbit, their bodies would fall at the entrance of the cave. If they died from the long thorns, their bodies would be in the trench.

No wonder there is no food in the forest. It turns out that you took the kickbacks I gave you and went to raise monsters.

If you think about it carefully, this rabbit is a scary monster to ordinary people, but to knights in full plate armor and professional demon hunters, it is much weaker than other monsters.

Although it would consume the prey resources of the entire forest and involve the risk of monsters getting out of control, the price of a pound of monster meat was comparable to gold.

The eight rabbits outside alone can yield nearly forty pounds of meat. What does forty pounds of gold mean?
The equivalent of 500 gold pounds was 60000 dinars or 540 tons of wheat.

The total annual income of the knight was only 2 to 30 gold pounds. Even if a knight worked hard, he would not be able to earn that much, especially after the end of the Hundred Years' War and the sharp drop in food prices.

No wonder the hunter's cabin is so luxuriously and comfortably decorated, after all, that's where the money comes from.

It is really difficult for the knight. He cannot live in the manor villa. He has to act as a ranger every day and live in the hunter's cabin, monitoring the vagrants and public farmers to prevent poachers.

Think about it again, Barnett's father donated the forest to the Archbishop of High Castle. The Archbishop of High Castle did not come to play himself, but instead sent special hunters to hunt every two or three years. The last time he came was exactly three years ago...

Oh, it’s terrifying when you think about it carefully. It’s terrifying when you think about it carefully.

Raising monsters is a serious crime, even Barnett cannot afford it, let alone secretly keeping the evil bone flute.

Now they found the reason why Bennett refused to let them enter the forest. In the end, he even risked his life to attack Horn, probably because he was afraid of being discovered.

As long as there is not enough food in the forest, someone will find this place.

Especially since Archbishop High Castle was involved in this matter, if it wasn't weighed it would only be four ounces, but if it was really weighed it would have to be a thousand pounds.

As for the origin of the bone flute, Horn also had a rough guess.

Since this flute was made by a secret party or wizard and used to traffic children, it must be that the church caught a group of human traffickers but seized the bone flute and did not report it.

He also got the method of raising magic rabbits from somewhere, and there was a rotten forest in the remote and poor village of Moulin Rouge and a knight who was extremely poor.

It’s simply the most correct choices gathered together.

But this also shows that the mastermind behind this incident is not the "Magic Piper", and the clues to Father Cosset's two daughters have been interrupted again.

Horn's eyes turned to Father Cosset.

Sure enough, Father Cosset leaned against the wall and slowly sat down. He seemed to have aged several years, with his decadent eyes looking down at the ground.

Boussac, who was familiar with the priest, couldn't bear it, so he stepped forward and patted his old friend on the shoulder. Although he didn't say anything, Father Cosset knew what he meant.

Standing up, Kosei forced a smile and said, "It's all over. I have vowed to serve my Lord for the rest of my life. Just think of them as having gone to Mount Paradise."

After hesitating for a moment, Horn stepped forward and patted Father Cosse on the shoulder: "You may find clues about your daughter in the High Castle. If you have a chance, maybe you can go there and ask. Maybe there will be some news."

Father Cosse's eyes lit up at first, but then he smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Master Sheng Sunzi, I am a country priest, how can I have the qualifications and ability to continue the investigation?"

Father Cosse stood up numbly and walked out of the cave dejectedly. The other young men also walked out of the cave.

After finding out the truth, the villagers felt relieved, but Horn, who was walking at the end, had a headache.

The danger was resolved, but the problem was that all the animals in the forest had been killed, and the roads and bridges leading to other forests had been damaged. Where could they get food?
Monster meat can speed up the practice of breathing techniques, but it cannot provide enough calories.

The remaining food can only last for today at best, and will not be enough to feed tomorrow. Should we order the armed farmers to hand over their stored grain?

The food they have stored can only last for one or two days at most. What should they do after that?

Walking to the clearing in the woods, Horn raised his head and called out to the rest of the people: "The matter has been resolved. It was caused by the devil Barnett. I will tell you in detail when I return. Take those rabbits and these two bodies...eh?"

Horn pointed at the three bodies lying neatly side by side on the ground, and asked Haze who stayed behind with a dark face: "Why is there another body?"

Haze said with a sad face, "Master Saint Grandson, it's really not my fault. This bastard was born with a big belly. He was tempted by the roasted rabbit just now, so he dug a piece of poisonous potato root from the ground and ate the whole thing. He died right after he finished eating. He was breathing in but not out, and he kept twitching. He died in the blink of an eye. We couldn't save him in time."

"Potato roots?" Horn quickly searched his memory.

Potato roots are a specialty of Qianhe Valley and Black Snake Bay. They are cylindrical in shape, khaki with a hint of purple, and have whiskers on the surface, a bit like a thickened and enlarged version of yam.

It looks edible, but it is actually poisonous. It can cause mild diarrhea, and in severe cases, it will be gone in a flash, just like what this person is eating by digging something from the ground.

Recalling his memory of potato roots, Horn rubbed his chin. Why does this thing look so much like cassava?

(End of this chapter)