It was in the hinterland of the Misty Forest, northwest of Neverwinter.
Snaketooth felt that ever since he had joined the railway construction team one and a half months ago, these days had become the most incredible period of his life.
"No..." He thought, "It"s not appropriate to describe it as the most incredible. From time to time, I can always see something incredible. It seems that I have never really had a chance to know about the real Neverwinter."
He finally understood why the workers had to sign a confidentiality agreement.
The agreement required them not to share what they saw with anyone. Any kind of oral or written record would be regarded as a crime against the laws of the kingdom, and the punishment ranged from fines and confiscation of income to forced labor in the North Slope Mine. The agreement also stressed that they could quit from the construction team if they were unwilling to comply with the requirements. However, if they dared to violate it, the Security Bureau of the kingdom was responsible for checking them, and no one could escape from the ubiquitous supervision.
Snaketooth had once thought with disapproval, "It"s possible to check all written records, but how could they police oral records as well? If they arrest anyone who is reported, then the project won"t have enough people to be implemented anymore."However, he had a completely different view now. It was beyond his imagination how many secrets there were in Neverwinter. Maybe in some place which most people did not know about, there was a surging and amazing power.
What he was most impressed by were the witches.
Though Paper was also a witch, in his eyes she was just a little girl who needed his protection. The church claimed that the witches were evil as they inherited the power of the devil, but he did not care about that. If the witches were really so powerful, why would they be chased by the church and not dare to show up in public?
But this idea was changed by a witch called Lady Leaf.
Snaketooth never imagined that anyone could control the entire forest on her own.
The Misty Forest which the construction team entered was like the belly of a huge beast. This was especially obvious when they were paving the railway. The vines formed an endless network at the top of the roadbed. The iron tracks were wrapped and dragged forward to the appointed place by the vines and then fell to the ground like grapes in a vineyard. Wherever the railway was being laid, the trees on both sides would separate themselves, which even saved them the effort of cutting down the trees. At the same time, the surrounding trees would grow especially densely, covering the entire sky so as not to attract the demons" attention.
In addition, the forest could take the initiative to attack the beasts approaching the construction team. If they got a bowl of fresh meat soup someday, that meant an unfortunate beast ran into the domain of Lady Leaf.
Snaketooth had once seen her, but he could not be sure whether Lady Leaf was still human. Her body glowed with a strange green radiance which resembled a gem. When she moved, she could walk freely among the branches as if she had no real body.
If it had been the him from the past, he would surely have screamed loudly. With such ghostly deeds and an incredible appearance, it was not surprising that she would be regarded as one of the Devil"s minions. His only thought was that Paper was lucky to not look like that.
However, Snaketooth did not hate her, and instead even had sincere respect for her, as His Majesty had mentioned at the Awards and Honor Ceremony that he was able to feed everyone in Neverwinter thanks to Leaf"s help. Anyone freed from hunger and suffering was a beneficiary of her ability. By this merit alone, Leaf should forever be remembered.
Snaketooth was naturally one of the beneficiaries.
Apart from the witch, another discovery probably was his own personal secret.
It was after the First Army entered the Misty Forest.
Ever since the demons had attacked Neverwinter, the voices demanding a counterattack had become more and more fierce. Even in the Wild, the workers were also discussing this issue. He was not surprised that this day had come.
Every day a large number of soldiers marched to the front. Apparently, His Majesty intended to wage a war against the demons. Unlike the knights he had seen before, the soldiers were mostly acquaintances and neighbors of the workers. Whenever the army pa.s.sed by, the workers would always greet them with enthusiasm. He had thought paving the railway away from the border would be dangerous and lonely hard labor, but it turned out to be the opposite.
Snaketooth did not have too many acquaintances, so he preferred to go and observe the train alone, and he even climbed up and touched it when it stopped.
However, what he had experienced two weeks ago was horrifying.
It was a locomotive dragging six carriages, which stopped in the section where he was partic.i.p.ating in the construction, the latest section of the railway. There were two gigantic objects piled on the topless flatcar. Each of them was over 20 meters in length and covered with a layer of canvas. He had no idea what they were.
This was originally normal. If the goods delivered had nothing to do with the construction team, it must have been military supplies, and he did not want to find out what it was. However, he had an upset stomach that night and had to run out of his tent at midnight. While he was looking for somewhere to empty the bowels, he was shocked to see the canvas creeping up by itself!
After several warriors who dressed distinctively different from the First Army soldiers untied the ropes fixing the canvas, a huge mollusk monster crept out of it! What was more horrifying, the monster could speak, and its voice was quite pretty! Its first words were: "I"m hungry! Do you have any food?"
At that moment, Snaketooth felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck. He could almost imagine the cold reply of the warriors, "Ah, yes, all the workers in this camp are your food. Enjoy yourself."
But this did not happen. The warriors embraced it affectionately and then moved ham, vegetables, and bread from the last carriage... They were all packed in barrels as tall as a man. The two worms gobbled up the food in a hurry and then disappeared into the depths of the forest with the warriors.
Snaketooth did not dare to breathe. He hid behind the trees until the footsteps faded away. Once he confirmed that they had left, he looked down to find that he had wet his pants...
Within two days, a strange station was built next to the track. It was an arched building made of cement and bricks, and inside it was a deep and bottomless hole. Though the workers walked in and out of it, no one knew where it led to. There were several steam engines beside the hole, constantly blowing wind inside. It was really weird.
He also firmly hid this secret in his heart.
Snaketooth had thought that he would be afraid and want to quit from the railway construction team. In reality though, he recovered faster than he had imagined. "This is an exciting life! This is the real image of Neverwinter!"
When he had just left his friends and arrived in the forest, he always felt that he was like a rootless piece of duckweed, not attached to anyone. Especially when the workers received letters from their families and happily shared them with him, loneliness haunted him. But he was gradually attracted by various novel things, such as the perfectly connected tracks, the beautiful songs in the forest, the huge desert wolf which appeared and disappeared secretly but would not be attacked by Lady Leaf, and the mysterious man who came here and whispered to himself on certain days...
This made him feel that he was a little closer to the unknown side of Neverwinter, and also gradually integrating with the city.
Snaketooth wanted to keep all these things in mind and wait for the day that he could tell his friends. There was no better proof of being a citizen than knowing the depths of a city. Even if he did not have so many familiar neighbors, no one could deny this.
The duration of the confidentiality agreement was five years.
He was looking forward to that day.