The team walked for a day, and after nightfall, someone gave Roger some simple food and water. Roger received them silently and sat in the prison car to eat.

After a while, Roger saw the Jew walking slowly over.

Roger knew that this was an inevitable hurdle. He had already thought of a countermeasure while on the road.

He thought about reporting directly to his family and telling them that he was the Count of Sicily.

But he also thought that the other party would not believe it at first; secondly, this Jew had made friends with bandits, robbed people as slaves, and smuggled minerals. He was not a law-abiding person in any way. After the other party learned his identity, the most likely thing was to directly

Chop yourself up, throw the body into the wilderness, or even destroy the body and eliminate all traces, so that there is no evidence of death.

The Jews walked to the prison van.

Roger found that he was not as nervous as when he was first interrogated by Amyra.

He thought that he was also an experienced person.

The Jew was very polite, like a highly educated intellectual, and he saluted Roger in the prison car.

Roger did not expect that the other party would salute the prisoners in the prison car. Subconsciously, Count Roger thought of returning the salute.

At the last moment, the cowardly translator Ruggiero kicked the aristocratic Count Roger away.

Ruggiero threw himself on the railing and begged: "Okay, please let me go."

The Jew comforted him in a friendly voice: "Don't be afraid, young man, I have no ill intentions towards you."

"Sir, can you let me go? I have no money and no one will redeem me."

The Jew smiled dryly and said: "We are not kidnappers, I just ask you to work for me. Let me introduce myself, my name is Heller."

"Hello, Lord Heller."

"My lord, I'm just a manager, not a nobleman. However, Viscount Margarito thinks highly of me and allows me to manage the mine alone."

"Master Heller is amazing!"

"Haha, I told you not to call me "sir". But since you insist, there's nothing I can do about it, haha. Oh, by the way, what's your name?"

"Ruggiero."

"Are you a translator?"

Roger secretly thought: Here we are, starting to check the household registration. He concentrated and did not dare to make any negligence.

"I am a translator, and an Arab princess hired me."

"Where are the Arab princesses in Sicily? You have been deceived. You see, you will end up being a boy in an inn."

Heller continued: "I will provide you with a job that includes food and accommodation. It is much more dignified than working as a boy in an inn."

Heller deliberately paused to show off, and Roger followed his lead and asked, "What do you want me to do, sir?"

Heller was very satisfied with Roger's attitude. He smiled and said: "You manage a group of Arabs for me and tell them to do what I want."

"But I have never cared about others. Will they listen to me?"

"I never mistreat my servants who work faithfully, so they will listen to you."

Roger understood the threat and pretended to readily accept Heller's "kindness".

Heller walked away satisfied.

Roger thought, this is too easy. I haven't come up with the countermeasures I've prepared yet. It seems that this Jew named Heller is not here for interrogation at all, but just to inform him of his identity and arrangements for himself.

Roger thought again, maybe Heller didn't care about his past at all, or maybe he would wait until Heller was in trouble before questioning him.

The team set off at dawn the next day. After turning many turns in the deep mountains, Roger smelled the smell of rotten eggs.

As the team moved forward, the smell became stronger and stronger, so strong that it made him sick.

He saw streams of white water vapor floating from the top of the mountain ahead, mixed with wisps of yellow smoke. That seemed to be their destination.

The team turned a few more corners, and Roger saw a mountain pass. It was completely blocked by a wooden wall, and a gate was opened in the middle. It looked like an ordinary mountain village.

After passing the gate, you are faced with a straight dirt road, which is not long. You can see a tall stone wall on the opposite side.

A door was opened in the middle of the stone wall, just like a real city wall and gate, sealing off the other end of the mountain pass.

Roger noticed that the stone walls faced the valley.

There is a slightly steep slope next to the city gate, which is close to the high stone wall and reaches the top of the wall. There are guards changing guard up and down the slope.

There were many wooden houses crowded on both sides of the dirt road. The convoy stopped and the guards in the team dispersed.

Heller entered the largest wooden house in the middle, and a man dressed as a warrior followed him in.

Soon the warrior came out again. He called two guards and pointed to Roger's prison car. Then the two guards came over and led the prison car's packhorse to move forward.

The prison car passed through the door of the stone wall. This door was like a real city gate, with an oak door reinforced with iron bars and an iron fence on the top that could be lowered at any time.

After passing the door, Roger saw the entire valley, which was filled with white and yellow smoke.

He thought it was a volcanic crater, but he looked carefully at the surrounding mountain walls and found that they were as steep and upright as a wall. The upper part of the wall was black, obviously basalt formed after the magma cooled, but the lower part was gray and white, which is common in Sicilian mountains.

rock.

Moreover, this valley was a bit larger than common volcanic craters, so he concluded that it was a caldera formed by collapse and subsidence.

The valley as a whole is like a soup pot with a large lake in the middle and many cracks with steam rising out of the lake's edge.

A little further away from the lake is a gap with yellow smoke blowing out. The stones on the edge of the gap are dyed yellow, and there are figures of people shaking there.

The center of the lake is black and bottomless, the shallower areas on the edges are tinged with blue, and the areas near the shore are tinged with green.

Spring water seeps out from several stone walls in the valley, washing away the yellow and white stone powder on the shore, mixing it into the lake, and staining it with patches of color.

The erratic yellow smoke and white mist vainly blocked the direct sunlight. The entire valley was like a brightly painted oil painting, with floating light passing by and mottled colors in the light and darkness.

The beautiful scenery attracted all Roger's attention, even allowing him to ignore the unpleasant smell of rotten eggs.

It took Roger a long time to come back to his senses. He saw that there was no grass growing in the entire valley, and there were no trees. There were some shack-like houses outside the entrance and exit of the stone wall like a city gate.

The guards let Roger out, and he moved his arms and legs to observe their defense.

He found that the mountain pass was the most heavily defended place, with a few sentries scattered on the surrounding stone walls. There was also an awkward entrance in the far reaches of the valley, but it was completely blocked by a high stone wall.

Roger thought, it seems that if he wants to escape, he must either challenge the stone wall and become a master rock climber, or he must find a way at the only entrance and exit.

Roger was not confident in rock climbing, so he carefully observed the entrance and exit.

Only then did he realize that there was a wooden gallows there, with two dry corpses on it, hanging by thick ropes and swaying in the wind.

Perhaps the air here had a certain antiseptic effect. At least Roger saw no flies or scavenging birds. The two corpses were still intact like specimens.
Chapter completed!