There were many people in the city.
The city in the desert was called Hadar, which meant “the watchman in the desert.” It was an old eastern language; probably, many learned wizards didn’t understand it. Upon entering, Soran had a sense of returning to the western regions in the middle ages. The mixed population was a bit like Jerusalem, both desert and western, and they were trading with different languages and accents. Some eastern merchants were reluctant to enter the western continents so that many goods would be sold in cities on the edge of the desert.
After coming here, Soran felt that he had forgotten about one important thing.
That was to study the spell ‘Comprehend Languages’.
Damn the local language!
Although there were many people who mastered the common language, the mainstream language was still an eastern language, and there were dialect characteristics in different desert areas. Now that he did not have a language translation system, he could only understand some of the words, and normal communication was troublesome. Fortunately, he was only passing by here. If not, he would only be able to find businessmen who understood the common language to communicate.
The architecture in the city was a kind of a dome-shaped building, and the most remarkable ones were the desert temples.
Those were the temples of Death.
The portfolio of Death had always been an important field for the gods to fight for. Therefore, almost every god had a hand in this field. The desert temple in front of us was the temple of Nephthys, the eastern goddess of wealth and death. At the top of the temple, Soran saw a gold bowl with the emblem of life floating on it. This was a goddess of the Chaotic Good camp. The title extended from the field of death was the ‘Protector of the Dead,’ which meant that she protected the dead from being disturbed.
That was why the believers of this goddess were not hard to deal with.
The eastern god system was an outsider during the ancient empire period. No one could be sure exactly where they came from. However, the ancient empire once plundered a large number of people from other realms, that was also when the eastern desert gods were born. For a long time, the eastern desert deities seldom participated in the struggle of other gods. Even in the chaotic era of the Arcane Empire, they were just spectators. The belief of these gods was limited to desert areas.
Because of the influence of Monks, the eastern countries believed more on the natural way of life [Tao], so they did not believe in a particular god.
This Tao was a bit like the so-called “Heaven way.” But it was not the way of heaven that people knew about. It was more inclined to the soul. The pursuit of the Monk was personal sublimation.
If you had to use a word to describe it, Soran thought it was the so-called “Unity of man and nature!”
Anyway, up to now, Soran had no way to distinguish the spiritual detachment pursued by “Druids” and “Monks.” In his opinion, “heaven” and “nature” were basically the same thing. Soran was not the kind of person who was too rigid about the spiritual world.
There was something recorded like this from a book was written by the Druid wanderer who traveled to the eastern countries. The Druid finally became a powerful legend that multi-professioned as a Monk.
——”In addition to the daily training, the Monks’ practice was mainly spiritual. They have a mysterious connection with the spiritual world directly and feel the mystery of nature through meditation. That is why they don’t need priests and gods. In the process of traveling in the East, I saw many powerful Monks. They didn’t know any magic at all, but they could master many magical abilities through cultivation. This ability was not from the gods nor any Arcane skill. It was more like the gift of nature to the practitioners.
I believe this is another law of nature.
That is why I’ve decided to join them in search of the mysteries of nature.”
Soran found a tavern to stay and wanted to gather some information.
It was very difficult to find a place in the vast desert. Even he, himself, only knew the general direction. If no one had explored the region, Soran, as a pioneer, might need to dig a hole to go in. His next target, Cloak of Proof Against Detection, was in the underground ruins, which were still buried in the deep desert. It was not like finding a dungeon to venture into, but more like an archaeological discovery.
The specifics were like when the European raiders’ excavation of the Egyptian pyramids. The first batch of underground remains that were opened in those years were almost all the channels that the adventurers paid to dig.
The geographical environment of the desert also did not leave any entrance intact after thousands of years.
Soran wandered in this desert city. There were adventurers from the East. Every year, there were monks on their way to practice. They visit the Druid temple on the other side of the mainland and compete with other professions. These were their daily practices. The closer one got to the East, the more Monks were seen, but most of them still had their hair. Only those who were prepared to strictly observe the martial Monks’ commandments, or who had made the pledge of poverty, would shave off their hair.
Soran first walked around the area, but when he was ready to go back to the tavern for a rest, there was a riot in front of him. Then a loud and hoarse voice came from the front, making him stop. There were a lot of people gathered there. Even the guards nearby were attracted by what was happening, but they had no intention of stopping them; they didn’t know what to do.
Soran moved closer.
Then in front of his eyes appeared a Paladin with a face full of vicissitudes. From his face, he seemed very young. Unfortunately, the environment had been harsh on him, making him look at least ten years old. The Paladin was dressed in old silver armor, and his wrist was equipped with scales and arm armor. In front of him was a man dressed as a desert warrior. The curved sword that the desert warrior had was in the Paladin’s hand; he could not stab him nor pull back his sword.
The Paladin’s face shocked Soran slightly. Soran seemed to have thought of something, and his expression changed a little.
“Judgement of Righteousness!”
In the face of the frightened desert warrior, a white light appeared in the palms of the Paladin. He suddenly released his hand, pulled out his double-handed sword, and pointed it to the enemy in front of him.
A bloody glow appeared.
A red glow representing evil appeared from the desert warrior.
The blood-red light startled other people. Anyone with a little knowledge could not help but back away, because the desert warrior in front of them had killed many people.
“A desert bandit! He’s a desert bandit! ”
A businessman next to him seemed to remember something. Then he said in a voice of anger and fear, “They ransacked a caravan previously and left no one alive.”
The Paladin did not care about the others in the crowd.
Looking at the man in front of him, the Paladin said in a low voice, “A week ago, you attacked a caravan from the oasis city and killed 27 innocent people.”
“You must pay for your crimes!”
The Paladin wielded his heavy sword in both hands and swung it down. The desert warrior in front of him used his curved sword to block, but his whole person flew out.
“Pang!”
His body hit a wall behind him, and he spat out blood.
“Justice,”
“With power or law!”
The Paladin once again wielded his huge sword and cut down, saying in a low voice, “But the law here seems to protect you, so I can only rely on power to maintain justice!”
The big sword he had glowed as he swung it down.
“Kak!”
A clear snapping sound.
The curved sword of the desert warrior broke, and he was struck down.
“Smite Evil!”
The Paladin glanced at the others, pausing for a moment as he passed Soran, but soon turned away.
He did not recognize Soran.
He went to the body of the desert bandit, leaned over, and whispered a few words in a special language. Then he took a look at the stiff-looking guards around him and walked towards the city with one hand lifting the body.
No one there heard what he said. But when Soran heard the strange language, he was shocked for a moment because he was familiar with it.
This was an ancient language.
No one knew where it came from, but the rough translation was.
——”In the name of justice, revenge for the weak!”
There was a very important sentence in Paladin’s creed.
——”Sympathy for the weak and protection of women and children.”
Soran never thought that his words really set the young Paladin, who he met in the City of Wealth on the path to become a “Divine Avengers.”
But it seemed that he hadn’t finished his test yet, because a real Divine Avengers was not what Soran saw just now. It seemed that he had completed many practices because the Divine Avengers also had the test of asceticism. The truly formed Divine Avengers were all close to the legendary level. Although the swing just now from the young Paladin was powerful, it was still far from the power of a true Divine Avenger.
Furthermore, he was still wielding a double-handed heavy sword. This meant that he had not reached the requirements yet!
The Paladin went alone.
No one dared to stop him. The city guards just looked as he walked away with the body.
Any city would have its dark side. The goods that the desert bandit got must be sold somewhere.
Soran looked at the figure of the Paladin. His eyes seemed to move a little, and then he followed him quietly.