This was the first time Shi Ji tasted the pain of an adventurous career, although good training in the past, as well as a stubborn and determined will, made her grit her teeth and persist along the way, without complaining. But after arriving at the destination, the relaxed spirit, and the gloomy and solemn, cold and dangerous environment, still made her shrink her body, and instinctively approached the source of safety.

"Good job, Shiki!"

Dugu Feng looked at Shi Ji with appreciation, although she is a young lady from a duke's family, and she is usually pampered, but in fact, her usual training is in place, and she can endure hardships when she needs it - in fact, in the world of fierce competition and constant disputes among various races in Feilun, even if it is a nobleman who has been pampered since childhood, there are few waste materials.

Scrapwood can't survive in this world, and when you need to face the mace of an ogre or the bloody jaw of a troll, your status in the human world will not save your life, only the sword can truly protect you.

Therefore, in this world, as a nobleman, you can live luxuriously, you can be greedy and lustful, you can be cruel and evil, you can be cold and ruthless, you can be insidious and despicable, but you can't be incompetent, you can't be powerless.

As the lord of the Crome's Grip, Baroness Winnie was a typical nobleman, a woman who was more determined, colder, and more tolerant of pain than many men.

"It was a black dragon, a reptile flying from a lizard swamp. It landed in my courtyard and claimed to be the Lord of the Lizard Swamp, the Suneater, and the Chosen One of Talona...... Hmph, I've never seen a black dragon so bold and with so many exaggerated titles! ”

Baroness Winnie coldly recounted what happened to her and her castle: "Although the Lizard Swamp is a favorite haunt of black dragons, we have never crossed paths with black dragons before, and Krom's Grip and Dagger Beach have never been attacked by black dragons in recent years. So I thought these things were unusual, and I sent a servant to Dagger Beach to ask for help, and then negotiated with the reptile myself. ”

"The reptile demanded tribute, and I demanded that when he received the required tribute, he must leave immediately, and not harm all the servants of my castle and my territory, and the reptile agreed!"

Baroness Winnie coldly recounted her negotiations with the Black Dragon, but at the end she showed a clear expression of anger: "However, that bitch raised reptile deceived me, and the words of these evil reptiles are never worth trusting. After the black dragon was gone, a large group of lizardmen attacked our fortress from the swamp to the west, and they climbed the outer walls and tried to storm my castle, but my soldiers fought them off heroically, and we lost six of them, and the disgusting lizardmen left behind twenty-five corpses before retreating......"

The knight of Swat listened in silence to Baroness Winnie's introduction, neither interrupting her or asking the dragon for a tribute.

"These disgusting lizardfolk are all devotees of Talona, and they've all been infected with a disease!" Baroness Winnie said with a look of disgust: "All of their bodies were thrown outside the castle - fortunately, none of my people were infected by this." ”

Talona is the goddess of poison and disease in the realm, the mother of all diseases and plagues. Her pastor and followers are constantly on the lookout for new diseases and infections, and are committed to spreading the disease to increase the prestige of Lady Poison. Many of the lizardfolk of the Lizard Swamp are devotees of the goddess Talona, and they often carry deadly diseases that make them more threatening than the rest of their kind.

"Salute to you and your warriors!"

The Knight of Isteva nodded slightly, saluting Baroness Winnie and her warriors, and introduced her, "I have brought reinforcements this time, thirty militiamen from Dagger Bank, and sixty-five hired adventurers!" ”

"These are the adventurers who came with me, these are the members of the 'Midsummer Flowers' adventure party!" After the knight of Evaat introduced himself, he introduced Baroness Winnie to the powerful people who deserve attention and respect among the adventurers.

"This is Miss Elune, and she's a level 9 mage."

Of all the adventurers, the one to watch the most is always the spellcaster, and the Knight of Evaat first introduced Dugu Feng before introducing her other teammates: "That is Lady Elune's sister, a level 6 wanderer!" ”

Baroness Winnie had long noticed the different Dugu Feng, and when she heard her spellcaster level, her eyes lit up, as a qualified warrior and lord, she naturally knew the power of a level 9 mage, so she rarely showed respect: "Hello, Lady Elune! We hope that your arrival can help solve some of the troubles that have been bothering us! ”

As for Shi Ji beside Dugufeng, she was naturally ignored by Baroness Winnie. With the sophistication of Baroness Winnie, she naturally saw at a glance that Shi Ji was the kind of greenhouse flower who had never been exposed to adventure, even if she had good strength, she was not worth paying attention to.

Dugufeng nodded slightly, which was a compliment. Baroness Winnie doesn't mind either, as a lord who is always on the front lines, she is a thorough pragmatist, a powerful one, and naturally has many additional privileges.

"This is Lady Elijasara, she's a level 7 dragon sorcerer and a level 3 warrior." Knight Istva continued to introduce the team members of the "Midsummer Flower": "This is Lady Roland, a level 9 warrior who specializes in using two-handed swords......"

Looking at the dragon vein warlock with a faint dragon vein aura lingering on his body, and the black-clothed swordsman with a relaxed face, and the moon elf who always stood silently behind Dugu Feng, it was extremely easy for people to ignore. Baroness Winnie couldn't help but look surprised.

It is really surprising that there are so many professionals who are about to step into the path of exemplary life in such an unknown small adventure group. You must know that in her territory, apart from herself, the strongest is none other than her deputy Frank, a level 9 warrior. Such a force, if used in the right way, was enough to easily take her castle.

Of course, the experienced Baroness Winnie glanced at Dugu Feng and Shi Ji, as well as the moon elves who had been silently guarding behind them, and immediately guessed their origins. Most of these are the children of a big aristocratic family, and only those deep-rooted big aristocratic families can find so many powerful professionals in order to protect their children in a boring adventure game.

However, Baroness Winnie, although quite unimpressed by the frivolous practices of such a large aristocratic family, would not refuse additional help. Compared to most adventurers of unknown origin, it is the "Midsummer Flower" that can clearly reveal the origin of the amateur adventurer who is more trustworthy.

"This is my lieutenant, Captain Frank of the castle's guard!"

Baroness Winnie greeted the adventurers before pointing to the man in armor with bandages on his shoulders and saying, "Captain Frank and Sergeant Doreon are in charge of leading my soldiers, Captain Frank is in charge of patrols during the day, and Sergeant Doreon is on duty at night. If you have any problems and needs, you can come to them or me! ”

"Sir Istva!"

After Baroness Winnie finished speaking to the adventurers, she said to Sir Isteva, "I hope you and the priest you have prepared enough healing spells. Sergeant Dorian was stabbed with a poisoned javelin* and is now severely injured and feverish, requiring divine healing. In addition to this, my other wounded soldiers also need some treatment......"

"That's no problem at all!"

Sir Isteva was a paladin, and he also brought a few priests this time, and there was no problem at all in treating the wounded soldiers.

"Good!"

Hearing this answer, Baroness Winnie's cold expression finally showed a smile for the first time.

Baroness Winnie led Sir Istva and the priests into the hall of the castle, where the wounded Sergeant and Durion were resting. The other adventurers and the soldiers brought by Sir Istva were also received and arranged by the servants of the castle, and the castle had already prepared hot water, stoves, and food to allow the reinforcements who had hurried to the rescue in the storm to rest and recuperate.

The hot food was abundant, and the baroness generously slaughtered several cattle and sheep. The good meat with a thick layer of fat was chopped into small pieces, sprinkled with iron, sprinkled with coarse salt and condiments, and served with a golden roast. Large chunks of bones are tossed into a cauldron and boiled with carrots, kale, and other vegetables, and soon become a steaming vat of delicious* broth.

There is hot water, there is a fire, there are large pieces of barbecue, there is a steaming hot soup, comfortable and thoughtful hospitality, so that the mercenaries who came all the way suddenly got rid of the severe cold brought by the storm, the mercenaries ate the barbecue in a big gulp, drank the hot soup in a big gulp, and suddenly felt comfortable, and then laughed unscrupulously.

Dugu Feng and the others naturally won't stay with these low-level adventurers and mercenaries, and the strong will always get some discounts. Despite the rush of time, the lord arranged a few clean and separate rooms for them.

As a fortress castle, the castle rooms certainly don't have any windows, so although the interior of the castle is lit with oil lamps, the dim light does not provide enough illumination at all.

The castle, which was cold and dim, and the air was slightly cloudy due to the lack of ventilation, made Shi Ji a little unable to sit still, so after a short rest, she pestered her sister to go outside and visit the castle together.

The Castle of Krom's Grip is a castle built on a cliff on the edge of the Lizard Swamp, and its shape looks like a fist reaching into the sky, hence the name Crome's Grip.

At this time, on the west wall of the castle, there were six guards, who were tasked with monitoring the movements of the lizard swamp. And when Dugu Feng and Shi Ji looked at the lizard swamp to the west, they happened to see that the corpses of twenty-five lizardmen were being thrown under the cliff, these corpses were infected by the bad rotting disease, and they would soon merge with the mud under them, turning into a part of the sludge accumulated in this swamp for countless years.