Give Me the Name of God

At dusk, Sphinx led the crowd away from the city of Yarn. They originally planned to stay in Yarn City for one more night, but after buying food on the road, they couldn't even afford the rent.

It wasn't all Manda's fault, Leonde lost forty silver coins in a tavern bet, and the little money left couldn't even buy clean brown bread.

It is impossible to stay in a hotel, and there is no chance of staying in a hotel along the way.

On the second night, they camped directly on the hillside, Leo alone in a carriage, Brutal and Leonde in another, and Manda and Kunta outside the carriage.

The lion girl threw all the things Manda bought out of the car, and Manda hugged a pile of rags, shivering in the cold autumn wind.

"Ha chirp!" Manda sneezed and wiped the snot on Kunta's body, "Why don't we let us make a fire? Who can see us in this barren mountain? This is clearly revenge!"

"This is revenge!" Kunta wiped his snot on the sheepskin, "Is this what cost you a gold coin?"

"These things are very valuable!" Manda took out a stone statue and played with it boredly. According to the memory of the original owner, one silver coin can buy twenty small stone statues like this.

"Let me see how valuable it is." Kunta picked up another stone statue, fiddled with it for a while, and said with a frown, "This is the statue of Zeus, the carving is exquisite, and I will meet you in Golden Lion City Arrived exactly the same."

It seems to be a high imitation product, maybe it has high artistic value.

Kunta took the stone statue in front of his eyes and looked at it carefully for a while, then murmured: "This thing is very old."

Could it be a cultural relic? Manda became more or less interested.

"There are words, ancient words." Kunta put down the stone statue, took out a candle from his arms, rubbed his fingers on the wick, and the candle was lit.

He can spell? Manda was taken aback. In his impression, Kunta was very knowledgeable and agile, but he probably knew nothing about magic.

Kunta signaled Manda to be silent. He held up a candle and stared at the statue of Zeus for a while. His egg-sized eyes were several times bigger than usual.

"This, this thing is worth, what is it?" He said something that didn't match his expression. It was obvious that he was lying. The purpose of telling this lie was not to deceive Manda, but to avoid causing other people's doubts.

Their ears are good, and although they sleep in the carriage, no one knows whether they are really asleep.

Holding a candle, he carefully read the mottled words on the stone statue, then opened the rucksack, took out the parchment and quill pen, dipped in the ink and wrote a sentence: This is the ancient Arantean language, written on it The secret of Zeus' disciples.

"These are worthless gadgets, you've been tricked, idiot!" Kunta tried his best to maintain a mocking tone, and stuffed the parchment into Manda's hand.

Manda took the parchment, glanced at it, and shook his head solemnly.

Kunta looked puzzled, isn't this the Arantean language?

It seems that Manda has already studied it. No wonder he bought these gadgets for a gold coin. The value of these stone statues is far beyond imagination.

Kunta observed for a while. Arantean language is one of the ancient languages ​​he is best at. He knows all the words of the stone statue, but they are connected in a mess.

Manda was right, it was not that simple.

Kunta wrote another line on the paper: Words and sentences whose word order is disturbed need to be deciphered.

Manda took the parchment, her brows were furrowed, and she still shook her head.

The situation is more complicated than that! Kunta grabbed the few hairs, while thinking hard, while covering up: "It's really pitifully stupid, you actually spent a gold coin for this kind of thing."

He wrote another line of words on the parchment: Are there other words in the Arantean language?

After Manda saw it, he didn't make a sound. It seems that he guessed right this time!

Kunta blushed with excitement, he really saw Manda right, from the first time he saw him, he knew that he was different.

He can easily fool the count, what kind of courage is this? What kind of courage is he able to calmly face God's Punisher? He can see the value of the precious smoke stone at a glance, what kind of experience is this? How insightful was he to discover such a precious treasure in the market?

I guessed it right, he really is the favored person of the gods, maybe even the gods who fell into the mortal world!

He is willing to share such a precious treasure with himself, Kunta feels that he has harvested the most precious thing in the world, and he is worthy of his proud lifetime friendship!

Hearing some voices in the carriage, Kunta hurriedly wrote the last line: Don't let the count see these things!

Manda nodded, and Kunta quickly burned the parchment. All night, Kunta was studying the statue of Zeus. Seeing his obsession, Manda sighed in his heart:

If I tell him that I can't read, will he despise me?

Manda didn't know the language of this world. In this world, only one in a hundred people could read. In the baron's house, only the baron, his wife and two children could read. The illegitimate child was not so lucky.

As for people like Kunta who are proficient in multiple languages ​​and understand ancient characters, this is the reason why the Earl often sends him out on missions. At certain times, Kunta's role is much greater than that of the Sphinx.

Kunta didn't sleep all night, he was thinking about the words on the statue, and he was also thinking about the method of hiding the stone statue. The count has a hundred eyes, and every corner in the valley is under his gaze, except for one place - the old witch Portia's cave, the count didn't like looking at dead bodies.

Can Portia help? Will she keep it a secret? What should be used to bribe her?

Kunta couldn't make up his mind. When it was almost dawn, he woke up Manda and wrote a sentence on the parchment: Do you think Portia is reliable? Can we hide the statue with her?

Manda rubbed his eyes, looked helplessly at Kunta, then at the parchment, and sighed: "Do you think this is useful?"

This is Manda's heartfelt words, he doesn't understand a word, he doesn't want to pretend anymore.

Kunta was startled, saw Manda looking at the carriage, and finally came to his senses.

So naive, this idea is so naive, Kunta is ashamed of himself!

Manda was right, it was useless, the Sphinx had seen these stone statues, she would definitely tell the Earl, if the statues were not handed over, the Earl would skin them.

what to do? How can I do?

Kunta wanted to bury the stone statue outside the valley and dig it out for research when he left the valley next time, but this was still a bit risky, and the next mission might be far away. What if someone else found it?

Still have to discuss it with Manda.

Kunta was about to write on the parchment, but Manda frowned and said, "Won't it be good to save your paper and ink?"

Kunta was stunned for a long time, then slapped his forehead hard.

How stupid I am! Why hide the statue? Wouldn't it be good to just copy the text down! He counted the parchments in his rucksack, and there were only five sheets left. The writing had to be smaller, otherwise the paper was really not enough.

It took Kunta two days to transcribe all the words on the twelve stone statues, and he tried his best to find opportunities to report the research results to Manda.

"Zeus is listening, that's a blessing from a cow, what do you mean by that?" Kunta asked in a low voice, taking the opportunity to relieve himself.

"Are you sure that cow isn't playing the piano to Zeus?" Manda casually said.

"Does this word mean playing the harp instead of blessing?" Kunta took it seriously, but he couldn't figure out why a cow could play the harp anyway.

After a few days of research without any results, he turned his attention to the dirty puppet. The puppet was wearing a long skirt with a waist, had curly blond hair, a blank face, no facial features, and it was easy to associate to witchcraft and curses.

It would be great if it could be given to Portia, but the count will definitely not let go of this good thing.

The journey back was arduous and long, but it was fleeting for Kunta. Before he had time to study the top and twelve-line chess, he had already heard the voice of old Yaman.

"Bluto, congratulations, your life will always be thirty-eight years old, what a wonderful age it is!"

Brutal sighed: "If you can be as lucky as Horna and stay at the age of twenty-six, that would be the most perfect life."

"Do you want me to die in jealousy and annoyance? It's not that easy, my old bones are still strong!"

The jealousy in Old Yaman's mouth was just a joke, but Leonde's jealousy was clearly written on his face.

The carriage was left behind, and everyone returned to the valley. The method was the same as before. The Sphinx flew in the sky with Manda, and the others chose to drill the cave. As soon as it landed, Manda immediately had the feeling of being watched.

There seems to be an eye on the steep rock wall. If you look at it, it will disappear immediately. If you don’t look at it, it will continue to stare at you.

Such eyes are almost everywhere, including stones, bark, blades of grass, and even the dewdrops on the blades of grass. The earl's hundred eyes are watching everything in the valley at all times.

Back in the castle, Manda took a nap with the quilt in his arms, and Sphinx was the first to be called into the earl's room.

Lioness explained the experience of this trip in detail. The Earl was not surprised by the behavior of Marquis Nars who raised the price on the ground. What surprised him was that two boxes of smoke stones could be exchanged for a hundred gold coins.

"What kind of smoke stone is that?"

The lion girl took out two smoke stones from her rucksack: "I secretly left some, and the Marquis didn't find out."

The count picked up the smoke stone and looked at it for a while, then asked, "How big is the box containing the smoke stone?"

Sphinx pointed to a glove box of the Earl and said, "It's a little bigger than that."

"It's a little bit bigger..." the count sighed, "It's still a loss. This is the smoke stone that has shone on Apollo's holy light. A box is worth a hundred gold coins."

Sphinx said with a look of astonishment: "But Marquis Nars said that it was for the friendship between you that he allowed us..."

"Needless to say, it's not important." The count fiddled with the smoke stone for a while and asked, "You said that Manda has seen this kind of smoke stone before?"

"He said his father..."

"Let his father go to hell, he lied, let him come to my room and bring all the good things he bought!"