As twilight fell, Ill walked into a small valley with exhaustion, and saw smoke rising not far in front of him, and a fence wall surrounding an open field.

There was a street sign in front of the intersection that looked like it was surrounded by a private ranch or something. In fact, behind the street sign was a large patch of mud overgrown with weeds. The sign reads: "Welcome to Herald's Corner. "There is also a round silver horn drawn underneath. Il smiled at the sign and walked along the fence, past several smoking stone houses, and through a gate. Hanging from the top of the door is a crudely made iron herald horn model.

Looks like he's going to have to spend the night here tonight. Ilr crossed a muddy field to the door of an inn. At the doorway sat a bored little boy, peeling turnips, grinding pepper, and throwing them into vats filled with water, while looking at the passing passengers on the road.

The boy looked at Ilminster, obviously interested in the stranger, but he did not ring the gong next to his elbow, but nodded blankly at the tired young traveler. Il returned the salute and walked into the inn.

The room smelled of cedar, and there seemed to be a stove on the left in front of it, from which there was a burst of talking. Ilr lifted the saddlebag on his shoulder, looked at the situation in the house, and for a moment thought that he was in the woods again. The room was roof with many tree trunks as pillars, and it was dimly lit, with a stone floor underfoot, sawdust between the cracks, and a lot of small, hard-shelled insects running around. There were also some old discarded bed boards beside him, which had been scarred by the fire at some point.

It smells like a winery. The room was filled with the sour smell of sake lees, and the windows were shut, with only a slit letting in the light. Il's peek out through the crack saw a cask as many as a hill bun outside. A face with wrinkles and two thick eyebrows appeared in front of Yir and quacked, "Alone? Coming on foot? Want to have a good meal and a good night's sleep? ”

Il nodded. The other party said a little rudely: "Okay, just stay here." One bed, two silver coins. Dinner is also two silver coins, and for each glass of wine, plus a copper slot, there is an additional charge for bathing. The bar is on the left side of the front, watch your bag yourself. And let me remind you again, if anyone dares to use a knife on my territory, I will throw them out, and without giving them weapons, I will leave them outside in the field with their bare hands. Do you understand? ”

"Understood." Ilr replied with some caution.

"Is there a name?" The rough-faced shopkeeper asked, resting his furry arm on the window.

For a moment, Ill wanted to answer the rude question with a "yes" word. But after thinking about it, he opened his mouth and said, "My name is Il, and I have come out of Asenrant, and I am going to the other side of the rapids. ”

The other party nodded, "My name is Dai Yidun, and I built this place myself." On the fireside shelf were bread, candles, and cheese. You go and pour yourself a glass and tell Ruth what you want to order, and she's cooking the soup over there. ”

The face vanished, and the sound of a large barrel was heard outside the window. And El did as the man commanded him.

He then walked into the bar. There were many unfamiliar faces, all raised with wary looks, looking at him curiously. Ill calmly coated the cheese with mustard, glass in hand, and quietly sat down in a corner seat. He nodded politely to the audience, thanked Ruth in particular, and then buried his head and gobbled it up, filling his empty stomach pouch. As he ate, he looked at the people in the room.

In the corner of the back room, there was a group of burly men and women in overalls and torn boots, all dripping with sweat, dirty, and tired on their faces. Well, this should be the local farmer, who went to bed before dinner.

At one table sat a group of men, dressed in leather armor and armed with weapons pinned to their belts. Their crest is a bright red sword under a snow-white scabbard. Someone noticed that Il was watching them, and muttered, "We are the Red Sword Regiment, and we are going to Salimshan to find some caravan guards to do." ”

Il told him his name and where he was going, shook his glass, took a big sip, and remained silent until the people lost interest in him.

People began to go on with their own casual chatter again. Two guests not far away were chatting along the lines of, "Have you heard?" The two men were ragged, bearded, and fierce-looking, each armed with a very old sword, and hung a great deal of things over and over them, clanging cups, knives, mallets, and all sorts of other gadgets, like two moving arsenals.

One of them, Kamu Hotoken, was a little fat, hurried, and slightly more arrogant than his companions. Ilr watched them secretly, listening quietly to their conversation. The man was full of eloquent words, and he said, "I told you that a great opportunity has been wasted, especially for me, and for you, a seasoned prospector like Sergoth, that time is not to come." ”

He leaned forward, glanced at the Red Sword Regiment with alert eyes, and then deliberately lowered his voice, but let his conversation be heard by the people around him, "Do you understand, this is about elves." They moved away, no one knows where they went, they just disappeared...... This place called 'Ilafan' is the woods where the great river flows, and from here, head northeast...... Last winter...... Now, this place is ours, and we can take whatever we want. Come, look at this little thing of mine, which I found in a ruin there more than ten days ago, gold! It's full of small pearls on the outside! ”

"Ah," interjected a farmer in a voice of suspicion, "how big is that?" How big? Is it bigger than my head this time? Hottoken! ”

The prospector's dark eyebrows were wrinkled together, and his face straightened, "Shut your foul mouth, Naggar!" He complained, "Why didn't you boldly rush into the woods when I was out there wielding knives and guns to drive away the wolves?" ”

"Oh," replied Nagg bitterly, "you see, Hotonken, we still have honest work...... You don't really understand what 'honesty' means when you chase wolves, do you? But now, you should understand, right? Several of the farmers chuckled scoffingly.

"You short-sighted farmers, I won't take your words to heart." "Because I like it here, and I'm going to continue drinking my wine here, and I'm going to see how you can drive the wolves away with your plows, if they come to your land," said the prospector. But I have to tell you, don't laugh at those who are more daring than you. ”

Hotoken's hand jerked into his open shirt and pulled out a fist-sized cloth bag. His stubby fingers ripped the closure and poured out what it contained: a translucent gold ball wrapped in glittering gems. Everyone in the room had a sigh of awe in their throats. The prospector triumphantly lifted the gem up.

It's a beautiful thing, ancient and elegant, and Il has seen the work of the elves, and it should be their masterpiece. This thing is worth at least twelve Herald's Horns, only more, not less. More than that, those gems should be more than just ornaments, but mean the power of magic.

At this moment, Il suddenly saw a large ring on the Prospector's finger, on which was engraved a large poisonous snake with a large mouth.

"Which of you has ever seen such a treasure?" Hotoken asked contentedly, "Well, are you, Nagar?" He turned his head and looked at the adventurers of the Red Sword Regiment, who had craned their necks like ducks and looked at him eagerly, their bodies almost out of their seats. Hotoken turned back and looked at his companion, "What about you, Sergoth?" Have you ever found any treasure worth half the value of this thing, huh? ”

"Enough, enough," said the other bearded man, clutching his head vigorously and making a weathered face, "I said, let it be at that." He stood up and put one foot on the table. Kamu Hottoken was still smiling happily, beaming at the admiration of others.

The man who stood up pulled a long, thin object from his raised boot and smiled at Hottoken. Il noticed that there were few teeth left in his mouth.

"I won't rob you of anything, Hotoken," he said triumphantly, "that's not Old Sergoth's way of doing things. I've always liked to be quiet and secure, you know? Quiet, yet ...... safe," he said, holding up the slender cylindrical object, stroking the black silk cloth wrapped around it, and deliberately slowing his speech, "I've been to Nairafan too, to see what I can find." That was years ago, and I guess you weren't born then, Hotonken, I have no doubt......"

The hunky prospector roared, but his eyes were not taken away from what the other man was holding.

"I've heard for a long time that if you are in the Elven Forest, there is only one place, and you will encounter countless beasts and jewels at the same time. What is that place? Grave. ”

The last word of Sergoth turned the otherwise bustling bar into a peaceful Dead Sea.

"As everyone knows, elves don't stay in that kind of place." "So, if anyone dares to risk their lives, it's possible—I mean, just possible, to find a treasure like this!" He pulled the silk cloth from his hand!

There was a whisper in the crowd, then silence again. The prospector holds a finely carved silver stick, somewhat like a flute, carved with a burning flame on one end and a sky-blue gem on the other. The nearest Red Sword Regiment's swordsman opened his mouth wide, and the gem was just enough to gag his gaping mouth! The stick was supposed to be a scepter, and around the shaft was carved a lifelike dragon, with two gems on the dragon's eye, one green and one amber. The dragon's tail is also embedded with a gemstone, and this one is brown.

Ilr looked at the stick and took a long sip from his glass to hide the curiosity on his face. If he had to fight the elven guards defending the city, something like that would be useful. It's so beautiful and smooth, it's impossible not to be the work of the elves. What kind of magic does it have?

"This scepter," said Sergoth, shaking the silver stick in his hand. Ruth was walking into the room with a large plate of cookies, and when she saw this, she couldn't help but be startled and knocked over the cookies at her feet. "It's a funerary object of an elven king, maybe more than two thousand years ago, maybe even older. Still, I think he probably likes to attract envious glances, like some lazy big-mouthed prospectors! That's why He built such a thing. Everyone, take a closer look! ”

The awe-struck audience looked at him, and he touched a dragon's eye and the large jewel at the bottom of the scepter. Sergoth pointed it at Kamu Hotoken, and a bright light flashed. Hortoken was so frightened that he fell to the ground, shivering in fear.

Sergoth chuckled and turned his head, "Don't be afraid, Hotoken," he laughed, "stop shivering. It's just that much energy, like you see, glowing, that's all. ”

Ilr shook his head slightly, knowing that there must be more to the Scepter than meets the eye. At this time, one of the people in the house noticed his reaction.

Hottoken stood up, his eyes filled with anger. But Tsagoth ignored him, and only looked at himself and said, "It's a little trick. ”

He pressed the dragon's other eye and tail gem, and a bright light shot through the bar, towards Il, rolling up the glass in front of him. The young man couldn't help but squint his eyes as he watched the wine glass "run" gently along the wall, smoking.

"And that's more!" Sergoth said happily, the light fading, and the wine glass rolled out of the room, "Look carefully! ”

He pressed the dragon's tail and the gem on the top of the stick, and this time, a blue ball of light appeared, and there were countless small points of light tumbling and jumping in it, and the scepter was suspended in this ball of light.

Il's face tensed, fingers tapping on the cheese. He lowered his head, and others would have thought he was looking at his glass, when in fact, he had chanted a spell. The miner's unintentional trickery would soon get into big trouble, and before that, Il had to take action.

The spell worked, and the rest of the room apparently didn't notice anything wrong. Il rubbed his ass in his chair and sat lower, sweat breaking out from his temples. He's not done yet, he must take the scepter out of the old prospector's hand.

"Now," said Sergoth in a low voice, "I think only a king is worthy of this little toy." So I'm still thinking about which king I should sell it to. I'll get a suitable country to go to, finish this little deal, and get out of it as quickly as possible, lest anyone kill me or send me to a dungeon. Ladies and gentlemen, you must know that if I want this thing to be sold for a good price, they will have to give me at least fifty rubies, each one the size of my thumb! ”

The old miner looked at the audience smugly, and said, "By the way, I have to warn you: I have a lot of magic to watch over this thing." If anyone dares to steal it from me, hmph, I guess you know what that means. ”

"Fifty rubies?" A swordsman repeated in disbelief.

"Are you serious?" Ilminster's words suddenly burst out of his mouth, and his words drew the eyes of everyone in the room, "If someone bids fifty rubies, are you going to sell it now?" ”

"Oh, ah," said Sergoth, squinting at the foaming star, "what's the matter, lad?" Could it be that you have fifty rubies stuffed into your saddlebag? ”

"Perhaps," said Ilminster, who was a little nervous as he took a small bite of cheese and almost put his fingers in his mouth, "and I ask again: Is your bid serious?" ”

"Oh, I think my offer was a bit hasty," the old miner said slowly, "I meant that it was worth at least a hundred rubies." ”

"You're serious this time," Il's voice was a little dry, "and I can feel unmistakably that you're taking it seriously." Well, Sergoth Iade, now, right here, I'm going to buy you this scepter, and I'll give you a hundred rubies, and I assure you, each of them, is bigger than your thumb. ”

"Hah!" The old miner leaned back in his chair, "A milky boy who has not dried up, where can he get a hundred rubies?" ”

Ilminster shrugged, "You know, maybe it's some other tomb, or something like that." ”

"No one will ever bury a hundred rubies," said Sergoth mockingly, "and give me a better way to put it, young man." ”

"Oh, well, I'm the only living prince in a fairly powerful kingdom......" Il said slowly.

Hottoken's eyes narrowed, but Sergoth laughed again. Ilminster stood up, shrugged, and took his saddlebag. His hand came out of the bag, covering a large cloak. In fact, he didn't have anything in his hand at this time, and the cloak was just to cover his spell-casting gesture.

Everyone leaned forward and watched his every move. Il's cloak was lifted in a grand manner, and a large pile of jewels, as bright and ruddy as cherries, shone brightly under the fire in the room, and filled the entire table in front of him.

"Come, Sergoth, take a jewel," said Il, mildly, "and see for yourself if they are real." ”

Dumbfounded, Sergoth picked up a ruby and looked at it with the light on the scepter. His whole hand trembled. Kamu Hotoken also snatched a gem and looked at it carefully with squinted eyes.

It was a long time before he slowly put the gem back on the young man's table and turned his head to look at the bar.

Il hung his head, scrutinizing the ring on his finger. Yes, this symbol is the same as the touch on the daggers of the gangsters in the woods.

"It's all true," Hotoken said in a hoarse voice, "and it's all true." He scraped the scepter with his thumb and looked at his little golden ball, slowly shaking his head regretfully.

"Child," said Sergoth, "if you are serious, this scepter is yours. ”

All the men and women in the room stood up, their eyes rolling as they stared at the glittering gems on the table. A Red Sword Regimental swordsman stepped forward and approached Ilminster.

"I wonder where a young man can get so much riches," he said threateningly, "and the journey to the rapids is dangerous." Do you have more treasures? ”

Il smiled slowly and placed a small object in the samurai's hand.

...