Struggle in the Steam Age

Then the road to Fir Town was smooth, and there was no half-way interception that is common in movies. When it was close to lunch time, Lawrence and the others finally saw the wall of Fir Town. And outside the fence is a golden corn field, many men and women are wearing cowboy hats and blue cloth overalls breaking corn in the field. The whole is idyllic.

It may be because the world's industrial level is still at a relatively elementary level, so the industrial atmosphere quickly fades after leaving the big cities. For example, the scene of harvesting corn here is not much different from that of more than 100 years ago. The black smoke from a small steam corn thresher is a reminder of industrial might.

"Good afternoon, Safiel, and—Lawrence, you are back today? Fortunately, Mr. Lambert told us that you have awakened your blood, otherwise I would not recognize you if you have changed so much." In the small town After getting out of the carriage at the door, a young man with two books under his arm and glasses on his face looked carefully at Lawrence and the others before saying hello.

"Good afternoon, Hans, are you out of class?" Lawrence and the others also waved their hands in greeting. This young man named Hans was the son of a blacksmith in the town. charity school. However, his academic level was still a bit low, so after graduation, he went to a missionary school in Missoula to study as a teacher, and then returned to the town's charity school as a teacher after graduation.

"Yeah, I'm going to visit Ren Town's home now. There are a few students who are a little too active in class, and I have to talk to their parents." After speaking, the young teacher waved goodbye to Lawrence and the others. . When he walked five or six meters, he suddenly turned around and said to Lawrence. "By the way, Lawrence, it seems that someone came to your house unexpectedly this morning. That person doesn't look like an ordinary believer or a friend of your father's."

"Understood, thank you." Lawrence shook his hand at Hans again and walked into the town, then said goodbye to Safiel at the crossroads in the town and walked towards the church. When he came to the entrance of the small church in the town, he found that the main entrance of the church was still closed as usual, so he took out the key from the space bag, opened the door and walked in.

"Son, are you back?" Because the door of the church was old, the noise was very loud when it opened. As soon as Lawrence came in, he saw his adoptive father, Mr. Lambert, pushed open the door and walked in from the door connected to the residence, and then walked up to Lawrence and patted him on the shoulder. "Look, I'm much stronger now than before, and I look like a real man."

Lawrence looked at his father, who looked slightly older than four years ago, with a slightly sore nose. He stepped forward to hug him and patted him on the back lightly, then stepped back to look at his wrinkled face. In the hug, he was happy to find that his father's body might be better than four years ago because of the extraordinary level advancement, but he was just a little older in appearance.

After a few seconds of delay, Lawrence cleared his messy mind and asked his father. "By the way, Dad, why did you call me back all of a sudden this time? I thought something happened to you. I was so scared that I hurried back by airship at a high price, and I even encountered an assassin's interception in the middle. "

"A killer actually intercepted you." After hearing what Lawrence said, Mr. Lambert immediately showed a nervous expression on his face. Then he started to grab Lawrence's shoulder and check up and down carefully. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, and I killed all those killers." Lawrence said, and then began to describe the process of the battle he encountered, but the door on the side opened again when he was halfway through the narration Yes, an old man in a tuxedo with gray hair came out of the door, and Lawrence immediately shut up when he saw this.

"Who is this?" Lawrence asked curiously like his father, because the clothes on this old man were obviously not the kind that people in the town usually wear, but instead looked like the nobleman he came from a certain big family before. housekeeper.

"This is our family in the old continent. You can call him Grandpa Bayer." "My father was very busy when I was young. It was your grandpa Bayer who brought me up. You can see him." Zuo is an elder in our family." Mr. Lambert introduced, and then he turned to the old man. "He is my son, Lawrence August."

"Hello, Grandpa Baier." Lawrence bowed very seriously and greeted him at the same time. After all, his father said that he was an elder in the family. And the old man pressed his right hand to his left chest and bowed slightly in a very solemn manner, and at the same time greeted him. "Nice to meet you, Young Master Lawrence."

"Young master, what's going on here?" Lawrence was at a loss after hearing what the old man said. He knew that his adoptive father was a child without inheritance rights from a certain family who came out to make a living, and finally became a priest. But other than that, he didn't know anything about the situation in his adoptive father's house, so he felt a little strange about the sudden appearance of the housekeeper.

After all, he doesn't know much about his adoptive father's family. He only knows that his adoptive father is similar to Safir's father, and both belong to the descendants of nobles who are already civilians. According to conventional habits, the descendants who have become independent tend to gradually lose contact with the main family, and the usual contact is just to contact each other through letters or telegrams. It is a very abnormal situation for a housekeeper in such a family to come directly to find someone.

"Uncle Bayer just came to us today to deliver the funeral notice, and I happened to come back at eight o'clock in the morning." Mr. Lambert explained, "I sent you an urgent letter to ask you to come back because I was in church I received a telegram from home saying that your uncle Conrad passed away suddenly a few days ago, and the pastor failed to revive him after trying. It’s just that the number of words in the urgent letter is limited, so I didn’t tell you.”

"What? Uncle Conrad passed away?" Lawrence felt a little shocked when he heard the news, because if he remembered correctly, Uncle Conrad was only one year older than his father, and he was in his prime. Not to mention that my adoptive father once said that Uncle Conrad was a formal-level knight with very good health, not like the kind of person who died suddenly.

As for the resurrection mentioned by my father just now, it refers to the priest's attempt to resurrect those who died accidentally by using magic. However, it is only a very small number of people who can enjoy this kind of magic service and successfully resurrected.

One of the reasons for this result is that the cost of performing the resurrection technique is very high, and there are also detailed requirements for the specific conditions of the deceased. Most people simply cannot meet these prerequisites for casting spells.

On the other hand, in this world, unless the person is indeed loved by the gods, the success rate of this kind of spellcasting is not very high. According to the statistics of the Church of Knowledge, on average, only one out of every five dead who meet various conditions can be resurrected after casting spells. Therefore, Lawrence didn't find it strange when he heard that Uncle Conrad hadn't been successfully resurrected.

"Yes." Butler Bayer had a sad look on his face. "His Excellency Earl Sauer passed away suddenly at a banquet nearly a week ago. According to those who attended the banquet, everyone was enjoying the after-dinner drink as usual at the banquet. As a result, His Excellency Conrad just picked up a glass of drink. Then suddenly the whole person collapsed and passed away.”

After hearing Butler Bayer's words, Lawrence and Mr. Lambert frowned at the same time, because they always felt that there should be some problems that they didn't know about. That uncle didn't sound like a normal death.

"By the way, you just called my uncle Earl Sauer?" Lawrence suddenly thought of a question and asked Butler Bayer, "I don't know much about those nobles in the Old Continent, so can you give me a general introduction? Uncle and Count Saul?"