Near the gates of Shamrock Castle, a sudden conflict is unfolding. As the direct initiator of this conflict, Rupert was looking at the adventurer in front of him with a smile on his face.

The other man was very tall and muscular, and the tattoo on his forehead showed his Nord status. But both the Nord man himself, and the mount he was holding in his hand, looked a little embarrassed and haggard.

This guy's face was pale, the beard on his chin had not been shaved for a long time, and there was a terrible scar on his throat, but it was an old wound. The leather armor on his body was good, and I couldn't tell what it was, but it was covered with many traces of battle, some of which were very new, and seemed to have been added not long ago.

Coupled with the fact that this person's chest always rises and falls sharply from time to time, and it seems that he wants to cough, but he has been patient, it means that he has been in one or more hard fights, and there may be some dark injuries on his body.

His boots were covered in muddy water, and there were damp stains on his body in many places. The mane and tail of the mount beside him were even more disheveled, and it seemed that he and his mount had been walking in the rain for a short time.

The rain that had just stopped at noon wasn't really heavy, but more like a thick fog. If this guy had only set off from somewhere this morning, the filamentous drizzle shouldn't have made him and his mount so embarrassed.

Rupert knew that there were three roads leading to the gates, one of which passed through the village of 'Elier'. This village is next to Shamrock City, and it developed slowly after the end of the chaotic era.

Originally, a regular army of the Griffon Kingdom was stationed there, with the aim of intimidating and protecting Shamrock Castle and its surrounding area. Later, the overall situation on the mainland became more stable, and the rule of the griffon kingdom gradually stabilized, so the army stationed there gradually decreased and eventually disbanded, and the original area slowly developed into a village because some infrastructure was still there.

The village of 'Elier' is very close to the castle of Shamrock, from where it takes only half a day to ride a horse. If the other party takes this road, there is a high chance that he will stay in the village due to the rain, but judging from his state at this time, it is obvious that the probability of arriving from this road is low.

At the end of the other road leads to the Ancient City of Sacred Flame, which of course had been in ruins hundreds of years ago and had no intention of being rebuilt. There are several towns along the way, and it takes about three or four days to get here on horseback from the nearest village. This is very much in line with the current appearance of the other party.

And, of course, there's one last road to the 'Ash City'.

On this road, the nearest village and town to Shamrock Castle, it will take at least more than a week to reach it on horseback. Rupert once knew that hundreds of years ago, there were still some villages and towns on that road, but those villages and towns gradually moved away from their original positions, and I don't know why.

From preliminary observations, he judged that the adventurer must have come from the second or third way, the second of which was the most likely, since there were very few solo travelers on the third road, and most of the caravans and convoys on that road were trading with Ash City.

Of course, the other party is an adventurer, and it is not excluded that he went to some other places to carry out some missions.

......

At this time, Rupert crossed his fingers with each other, placed them flat on his abdomen, and tapped his two thumbs leisurely to each other to ease the tense atmosphere, and through these small movements, he made himself appear more approachable.

"Your horse?" he said, pointing to the listless mount, "I can see that it's a nice lad." He smiled and said to the adventurer, trying to let the other party down with small talk.

"That's the question you want to ask?" the adventurer frowned, the tattoos on his forehead clumped.

Rupert saw Gerald take a step forward and point the tip of his spear at the adventurer's leather armor, warning loudly, "Hey, Nord, I suggest you be honest and follow our rules." Otherwise......"

Don't be full of threats, because you don't know what the other person is really afraid of. Therefore, sometimes a pause with an unclear meaning will make the other party suspicious.

It's just that Gerald didn't use it well. Rupert shook his head inwardly.

Gerald's temper was a little short-tempered, and he had used the tail of his spear to stab the poor man who wanted to enter the city but couldn't pay the entrance tax.

To be honest, this behavior is not appropriate, but Rupert, as the captain of the garrison here, did not stop it. He needs someone to play such an arrogant role to deter outlaws who want to evade taxes, smuggle contraband, or have all kinds of impure purposes.

"Heh, what are you talking about, 'your' rules?" the Nord looked down at the tip of the spear on his chest, and slowly raised his head to stare at Gerald, a gloom on his pale face.

The other party's eyes were extremely terrifying, and combined with his tall and muscular figure, Gerald involuntarily took a half step back.

The next moment, the grumpy guard blushed with shame at his retreat, and he turned his spear angrily, trying to use the tail of the gun to slap the rebellious Nord in front of him.

Rupert couldn't help but feel a little relieved to see that several of his other guards, Yaris, Bill, Bud and others were all approaching with guns, and they were automatically cooperating.

Several archers on the walls who belonged to another city defense also drew their bowstrings to prevent the adventurer from suddenly rising.

"Well, don't do that. Rupert spoke out at the last minute to prevent the conflict from escalating. He wanted to give the other party some disadvantage, but he didn't want to make things bloody and even killed.

He told Gerald to back down and motioned for everyone to put away their weapons.

"I said, take it easy, adventurer, we don't want to do anything to you. Rupert said to the Nords, "But, you should know, that's what we do, it's our job – to collect the entry tax, to protect the city, to check the suspicious people who come and go......"

Rupert said the word 'suspicious' with his eyes fixed on the Nord's face. But after hearing this word, the expression on the other party's face did not change significantly, which couldn't help but make him slightly disappointed.

This Nord man is undoubtedly a very dangerous fellow, and the evil aura he exudes is very heavy, and the guards around him can feel it. However, this was not the reason why Rupert stopped him from entering the city.

The reason why he wanted to do this was because there was a dead man's smell on this person's body that was so strong that it condensed into substance, and even made him faintly feel sick.

Yes, a smell, but not with your nose. Rupert has congenital rhinitis and is not sensitive to almost all smells, but that particular smell needs to be perceived.

He has had such a talent since he was a child, and can sense the strange smell of certain people. The smell is not the smell of wine, nor the smell of sweat, nor any smell in the traditional sense, if you have to describe it, it is something inexplicable that is condensed by the special experience of some people, or by extreme emotions, or by contact with other special creatures.

As a child, Rupert didn't know that he had such a talent, because at that time he came into contact with ordinary ordinary people. Even though he could occasionally vaguely feel that a few people were different from other ordinary people, the smell of those people was very faint and did not attract his attention.

It wasn't until Rupert was fourteen years old that a merchant came to the village.

The merchant was very wealthy and had a large caravan with many bodyguards. During the more than half a month that the merchant stayed in the village, he did many good deeds, which made the merchant win a good reputation among the villagers.

However, Rupert was afraid of him at the time. During the time the merchant stayed in the village, Rupert did not even dare to leave the door, because he felt a suffocating and undissolvable smell of blasphemy and evil in the merchant.

It wasn't until many years later that he vaguely guessed that the smell should be the smell of the devil......

On the mainland, it has been peaceful for a long time. But beneath this calm surface, Rupert could feel some kind of undercurrent surging. For more than fifty years after meeting the merchants, he was on the lookout for anything to do with the devil.

Many human nations and city-states have had demon-related tragedies from time to time, and it seems that they are becoming more and more frequent as time goes by.

But in all the tragedies he heard about, Rupert never heard of a single businessman's trace. Rupert couldn't help but have a knot in his heart that he couldn't untie - what had that businessman done in all these years, and what else was he going to do?

He tried to stop it, but he didn't have a clue.

......