The first spring rain had just fallen, and it was short and rapid.

One moment the sky was thundering and raining, and the next moment the warm sun was shining with fresh air all over the earth, and the rain was like a sneeze from the giants, roaring and disappearing.

On one of the roads leading from Bay of Pigs to the city of Garano, a sturdy horse galloped in from afar. The horse's hooves sped along the wet dirt road, crushing a beetle that had come out of the dirt at the beckoning of the spring thunder, and stepping over a low-lying stagnant water, splashing gray-black dirty water on the bodies of pedestrians on the roadside.

"May your 'donkey' break its hooves and break your damn neck!" scolded, the pedestrian. But the rider was long gone, and could not hear his "blessing".

The rider on the horse was a tall, sturdy adventurer, dressed in leather armor made of blue-gray petrified cowhide. The patterned tattoo on his forehead showed his Nordic status. It doesn't matter if he comes from a noble or humble background, and no matter who his last name is, the people of Bay of Pigs prefer to call him 'The Feeder', Barrett the Feeder.

He is the darling of the Misty Forest, and he believes that he will one day return to the embrace of the forest, but that is not now.

No, it's not time yet.

......

This is the fifth day that Barrett has left the Bay of Pigs, and it takes at least a week for the average troika to travel from the Bay of Pigs to Garano, and riding a horse is not much faster than riding a carriage, after all, only one horse can be ridden, and both men and horses need to have plenty of rest during the journey. And the horseback riding is even more painful, although the carriage is bumpy, but it is still much better than the horse's back.

But Barrett still chose to ride a horse, without him, only because riding a horse is more free, and carriages generally do not carry only one person. Of course, you can also choose to charter the whole carriage and enjoy the better trip, but Barrett thinks that if you do that, you might as well buy a horse, after all, there is still a long journey ahead.

It was a bright brown young stallion of about six years old, he was tall and vigorous, and he could easily run up to 60 kilometers a day with a tall Barrett without much effort, and the seller swore that he definitely had the bloodline of the Nightmare Beast, and asked Barrett for a whopping 20 gold coins.

Some of the horse breeds on this continent do have Nightmare Beast bloodlines, and those Nightmare Warhorses are basically descended from the same ancestor - a Nightmare Beast that was caught and tamed into a stallion by a mage during the Magic Empire, and it has bred the entire current Nightmare Warhorse population......

But now the horse under Barrit's crotch, even if it has nightmare blood, it is very thin, and there is no trace of the nightmare beast anymore, it is just quite strong.

The young pony was not very obedient, and always wanted to throw the man on his back and run for joy. Barrett was not a great horseman, his father was a Nord royal guard, a hoplite who could use a variety of weapons and was also not good at riding. Moreover, the Nord region is forested and hilly, which is not suitable for large-scale cavalry operations, and it is a military power famous for foot combat, so the vast majority of Nord horsemanship is very general.

Because of his riding skills, Barrett had to hold the reins as the horse galloped, and occasionally kick the horse's ribs with his dragonskin boots to give him a hard time before he got carried away.

The fields by the roadside are filled with corn, oats, barley, and various legumes, especially corn. Not far away is a small village, about 100 farmhouses.

Barrett had never been here before and didn't know the name of the village, if it had one. The road he was taking now was not the one used by the carriages, but it was closer, but the road was not in good condition, and the troika did not move smoothly, but it was not too much of a problem to ride alone.

It was still some time before it got dark, but Barrett didn't plan to sleep in the wilderness anymore, but wanted to find a warm stove, dry his damp clothes, and lay down on the soft bed to comfort his buttocks, which had been worn out by the long ride.

Barrett rolled over and dismounted, and the horse bobbed back and forth with its head back, trying to free itself from the reins. He casually slapped it in the face, making the begging guy a little more honest.

The path under your feet is paved with a small amount of cobblestones and some gravel, and although it is not wide, it is quite smooth. Barrett led his disobedient companion along the gravel path that led to the village.

Occasionally, some of the farmers along the way would stop their work and look at him, some with a little wariness in their eyes, but Barrett didn't care. Adventurers are not much different from robbers and hooligans in the eyes of many people, and these farmers are far away from killing and swords in their daily lives, so it is normal for them to behave like this.

The mainland has been peaceful for a long time, and this is the life of the vast majority of people.

The village had a low wall that was only as high as Barret's chest, and the wall was made of straw and clay, only a palm's thick, and Barrett suspected that if he kicked it with a little force, the wall would collapse.

At the end of the gravel road leads to a wooden gate in the village, which is now wide open and unguarded. That's not accurate, at least on one side of the gate there was a yellow and black dirt dog lying on the side of the door.

Barrett hesitated at the gate, then looked around again, and although there were people watching him in and outside the village, no one stopped him from entering.

He walked towards the village, and as soon as he stepped past the gate with his left foot, he heard a hoarse voice behind the door: "If you want to go to the Bay of Pigs, I think you are on the wrong track." ”

The voice said as he stepped out from behind the door. It was a bearded man, about fifty years old. Although the furrow-like wrinkles on his face made the man look older than he really was, his body looked very strong.

"I'm not going to Bay of Pigs, I'm coming from there, and I want to go to the city of Garano. Barrett replied. He found the man resting his hand on the iron sword at his waist, the strap on the hilt worn out, and the diamond-shaped counterweight at the end rusty. Barrett estimated that the sword would not be much more lethal than a hoe or sickle.

The man looked Barrett up and down, then at the horse he was leading, "Want to spend the night here?"

Barry nodded, "A warm fireplace and a bowl of hot soup, that's all, I'll pay you." ”

"Keep your copper coins in your pocket, after all, you bought them with your life. The man turned and walked towards the village, and he beckoned Barrett to follow him, "Adventurer?"

"Yes. ”

"I was also an adventurer when I was younger. He patted the iron sword at his waist, "Have you ever been to the Misty Forest?"

"Been there. "Countless times.

"It's a very evil place, I went to that place when I was young with two of my fellow friends from the village, and there were seven good boys from other places in the team. "But Andrew and Carey haven't returned, and I still don't know what they were killed." The fog was so great that Andrew disappeared so suddenly that no one noticed, and after him disappeared a young man who stammered a little......"

The village is small, and it didn't take long for Barrett to come to a rectangular two-story house with a mix of stone and wood. There is also a corral next to the house, but there are no livestock in it. At the door of the house is an old-fashioned apricot tree, pale pink apricot blossoms that add a touch of color to the gray-yellow village.

“...... We were all terrified, the captain was one-eyed, he made us sit in a circle back to back while he roamed around us. Everyone tensed their nerves and kept looking at the surrounding environment. At this moment, a scream came from the fir tree overhead...... "The man suddenly looked back at Barrett and found that the latter was not frightened, but had a blank face.

"You can see that you're a great guy. He shrugged his shoulders and continued, "We were all terrified, and everybody looked overhead, but we didn't see anything but the damn fog. Just as everyone was staring at it, a white shadow flashed in front of everyone's eyes like lightning, and then Carey disappeared......"

He pushed the door open and asked Barrett, "By the way, what's your name?"

"You can call me Barrett. The brute replied.

"Barrett, your name is Barrett?" the man thought with a frown, "I seem to have heard your name somewhere. ”

......