In the evening, the sky was overcast

The black clouds rolled in the air as if they were about to press down on the ground

The manic wind relentlessly swept the leaves in the treetops, and the air was filled with a faint salty smell peculiar to the sea

In the tavern of Sagoth City......

It was as noisy as ever, and there was a lot of noise and noise, and there were some dirty words mixed in with it, when a young man gently opened the door of the tavern......

The young man was of medium stature, with a good countenance, more handsome than the rough-faced Nords in the tavern, dressed in a merchant's white cloth robe, with a pair of leather shoes on his feet, and most conspicuously a sword that looked old hanging from his waist

He cautiously bypassed the drunken pile of "mud" that stood in front of the door, looked around, and then walked straight to the tavernkeeper

"Hey, isn't this the merchant of Veruga" The boss recognized him and greeted him warmly, "It's been a long time, how are you doing today"

"Phew, it's terrible, the captain is driving the boat at a worse level than today's weather" It's just that the young man is not as energetic as the boss, and he curses weakly

"Hey, don't say that" the boss still smiled "the hell weather today, there is going to be a storm soon"

"Indeed," said the young man, rubbing his face vigorously, "if you encounter this rain at sea, you will be guilty."

"Which one would you like to meet more than this, the Rakko or the Tempest (laughs)"

"Well, can't you hope I'm okay?"

The young man had a casual chat with the boss, then he asked him for a room to stay in, and finally he told him to help him put his precious goods outside in the tavern warehouse, and he understood what his task was, and that the purpose of his visit to Sagoth was to make money more money

After seeing that his goods were in order, the young man went to the second floor of the tavern, and came to the first cubicle on the left hand side in front of his room......

"It's still as tattered as ever," the young man frowned helplessly

The tavern in Sagos has two floors, and on the first floor there is a hall consisting of the front desk and the owner, where people drink and chat, and of course, there are some entertainers and book sellers who do all kinds of Amway sales. Upstairs were small rooms separated by short planks, each with a very thin door on the outside, which, although it had been heard that a few decades ago it was just a bunch of hay, is still remarkably rudimentary.233

Indeed, the taverns of Sagos feel very shabby compared to Zhivading in the center of the continent or some of the larger economic towns like Decheng, but after all, young people are merchants who travel from south to north, so there are no conditions to complain about

"This door is thinner than the shields of the soldiers in my hometown," the young man slowly opened the door and walked inside......

Time passed quickly, the night was slowly getting deeper, and it was stormy outside the tavern, and a heavy rain poured as scheduled

The windows creaked, the rain and the wind beat against the wooden walls, and the young man, though he was tired, had no sleep, not bothered by the wind and rain, but a somewhat exaggerated reason, he was worried about his country......

Calradia, a country of many calamities, as if it was fate, will not live in peace, and after only a few decades of unification, it seems that a major war is about to brew......

This is also no way, the iron-fisted King Alleyne has begun to grow a little old, and the appeal to the group of high-spirited and brave young lords below is no longer as great as it was back then. And since the kingdom's Minister of the Interior, the famous good old man Fatis fell ill and died, this group of lords who have enjoyed a long time of peace have dared to start openly forming gangs and supporting each other's troops, ignoring the orders from the royal capital Rivading, and even more so some time ago, the tripartite lords of Wuzhen, Suno and Decheng actually fought a small-scale war over the ownership of the village, and many people were killed and injured

Thanks to them, the trade route from Viruga to the northern tip of the continent was completely blocked, and the young man had no choice but to take the water route from Aaron to Sagoth......

Thinking of this, the young man sighed, "I may not be able to do anything about the country, but no matter what, I have to protect the Chamber of Commerce that I took over from my mother!"

Thundered!!!

When it was too late, a thunderclap interrupted the young man's thoughts, and then he heard a louder sound of rain and a louder wind, and the young man couldn't help but shiver, and the room slowly felt cold, and people began to feel a sense of loneliness and helplessness......

Just as the young man was about to take out a piece of clothing from his luggage and put it on, there was a sudden knock at the door......

Just as the thunder and lightning were blowing outside the window, there was a knock on the door of the young man's room......

"Who?" the young man asked, pointing in the direction of the door

Who could it be, the young man was puzzled, it was already late, and in such bad weather, the person who would come......

The young man was so cranky in a moment that his voice trembled when he asked

"My dear friend, please open the door" came a voice from outside the door, it was a man's voice, feeling a little old, very mature but not too hoarse "I, a poor man, have come to visit my relatives in Sagos today, and I am unlucky to catch up with this bad weather, and I just hope to find a place to spend this night"

Said he was here to spend the night......

"The tavern is so big, why is it the only one who comes to call my door" Although the young man is young, after all, as a businessman, he can't trust anyone outside the door

He continued to ask questions, and tightened his grip on the sword that hung from his waist

"It's very helpless," the old man outside the door seemed to sigh, "When I came here, I told the boss that I wanted to stay here, but the boss told me that there was no room available."

"Even so, you didn't explain why you came to me," the young man refused

The person outside the door was quiet for a while, and then said with a wry smile, "Because the boss told me that the guy in the first room on the left hand side of the upstairs only gave half of the room price......"

The young man was stunned for a moment, then looked at the room, which was rudimentary, with only a bed and a table, and finally, reluctantly, opened the door to the room......

Although the person outside the door was let in, his hand remained on the hilt of the sword

The person outside the door slowly walked into this not spacious space, took off his hat and bowed his head to the young man, with a smile on his face, completely indifferent to the other party looking himself up and down meaningfully......

The outsider was indeed an old man, wearing a relatively fine silk robe, in Calradia, which was a status symbol, and he was draped in a poncho sewn with wormwood and leather, and held a felt hat that had just been taken off in his hand, and the rain dripping under his feet quickly became a wet patch, and he felt that he had indeed been baptized by a storm for a long time before coming here......

His face looks a little old, he is the kind of age that is more than enough to be a young father, but he is very energetic, his body is strong, and he has no aging dragon clock at all, although his face is full of vicissitudes, wrinkles and ravines, but his eyes are firm, his eyes are like torches, and he must have been a charismatic warrior when he was young

"Oh, dear friend, I'm sorry to interrupt you late at night" The old man first broke the embarrassing situation of the two of them staring at each other, "I know what you're worried about, I'm just a traveler, and I don't have any malice"

The young man looked at the other party carefully, and finally nodded, signaling for the other party to put away the poncho on his body and put it next to the door, and then beckoned the old man to sit on the bed, and finally put his luggage on the ground against the wall, intending to sit against the wall and sit on the luggage to deal with the night

After all this, the young man noticed that the old man was watching him do all this with interest

"What's the matter, did you think I must be a bad guy when you first knew that I gave half of the money to the boss?" the young man suddenly felt a little embarrassed, "This is also no way, the money saved by "persuasion" when going out is earned"

"No, no, no, I just saw the shadow of a friend of mine from you," the old man smiled at the young man, "He's also the kind of guy who can annoy the boss to death when he goes to the market, and finally bargains until the boss collapses"

Hearing this, the young man also laughed, and the hostility between the two was much less, and the atmosphere eased a little

Anyway, I couldn't sleep, the old man put the poncho next to the door, the young man also put the saber on the table, and the old and young gathered around the table in the room to face each other, and took advantage of the thunderstorm outside to chat... From the economy to the war, from Tiha to Barrya, from Zhiwache Zekan to Aaron...... The more the old and the young talked, the more speculative they became, and there was a momentum of hating each other.233

When the conversation was rising, the old man's eyes suddenly froze, he looked at the table, and suddenly changed his words

"Young man, can you show me that sword?"

"Well, it's not impossible," said the young man, handing the sword to the old man

The old man took the sword in his hand and looked at it by the lamp for a long time

The sword was just an old sword, but under the lamp, it was still very sharp, and the old man looked at it for a while as if he was very puzzled, and his expression was complicated, as if he was thoughtful......

After a long time, the old man spoke

"My dear friend, can you tell me about the origin of this sword?"

"Is this sword" The young man suddenly felt a little confused, "This sword is actually a relic left to me by my mother, and I have been carrying it with me since she died"

"That'...... Can you tell me your mother's name" The old man's voice trembled a little

"Jamila, her name is Jamila"

“............”

The old man was stunned, and he couldn't speak, and the young man said the name of his mother, who had passed away, and the news seemed to hit the old man hard......

"Yes, is your mother dead?" the old man tried to calm his trembling voice

(PS: The protagonist knows about the death of Uncle Fatis, but Jamila's death is the first time I have heard of it)

After all, the young man is a merchant, and he has been in the market for a long time, so he naturally has the ability to read words and colors, and he feels that something is wrong with the old man......

It turned out that the young man's family was not a native of Viruga, and in the year of the unification of the continent of Calradia, the young man's mother, Jamila, decided to move to Viruga and settle until she married and had children, including her death......

"My mother loved Viruja very much, and she said that it was like heaven, as the poet said," the young man felt sad at the thought of his mother, but he asked the question he had just wanted to know

"Old man, do you know my mother?"

Know, recognize......

"It's not just acquaintance, we are good friends," the old man paused when he said this

The old man looked at the young man opposite, and said with a happy face, "I am a foreigner, and I am very lucky to know your mother, and some other people who are very important to me to make acquaintances and acquaintances. I spent the best time of my life with these brave guys."

After saying this, the young man looked at the old man again, and this time he read something new, and he suddenly felt that this old man would reveal to him an inexplicable and wonderful power, and his deep gaze seemed to be full of wisdom

That's right, mystery makes for charm

"Can you tell me about you, then?" said the young man, looking eagerly at the old man

The old man smiled

"Okay, it's just that I'm this age, my story is long and boring, what do you want to hear"

"Let's start when you first came to Calradia."

"Well, my dear friend," the old man thought for a moment and nodded, "It's really like fate, and the intersection between me and Calradia also came to this town"

"Is this the city of Sagoth?"

"That's right, Sargoth City, King Ragnar, the city of Sargoth, where my esteemed lord is located," the old man bowed his head as if in contemplation

I remember it was a morning at the end of March......

Thundered!!!

There was a thunderclap, and the wind and rain outside were still raging, but the people in the house began to tell a rather bizarre adventure story............

The story takes place decades ago

Carradia March 23, 1257

North of Calradia, the morning temperature in early spring is still very low, the sun does not have any warm power in the sky, and the sea is just freezing

The sea was calm, but because it was so cold, the vapors in the air were frozen into fog, so that the entire sea surface was covered with a thick layer of white

At this time, the black shadow of a longship slowly passed through this layer of white fog from a distance, and sailed silently on the sea towards its destination

It was a merchant ship from the far north of Nord mainland, loaded with falcons loaded from the place of departure, destined for Sagoth on the continent of Calradia, in exchange for linen and wool

In fact, this is not a good time to sail, it is a bit too early in time, the weather is still very cold, ice floes and sudden blizzards will bring ruthless disasters to the ship, but the captain has to take risks in order to avoid the notorious pirates

Only now it seems that the captain's gamble was a losing one

"Have you ever heard of the pirates?" the old man asked suddenly

"I've heard of it, but I haven't encountered it yet," the young man added, "but I also hope I don't meet it in this life."

"You're lucky, but some people won't be as lucky as you," the old man sighed and said lightly

The story goes back to that merchant ship from decades ago......

"Hand over your skulls"

Just when everyone on the ship felt that they were about to reach their destination, a group of hideous-looking pirates who had been waiting for a long time jumped onto the cute merchant ship

They were now standing at the bow of the ship, pointing their axes at some of the unarmed citizens on the deck in front of them, while they were trampling on the freshly killed caravan guards, their undried blood flowing as the ship swayed......

There were 8 people in total, and after the battle with the caravan guards when they boarded the ship just now, there were only 5 people left

Now the five pirates were even more angry because of the death of their companions, brandishing axes and swearing that they would kill everyone on board

There were not only women but also the elderly on this merchant ship, and the children were also afraid to grab their parents' clothes and hide behind them

"It's ugly, stop it" At this time, a young man emerged from the crowd, standing alone and bravely in front of the pirates............ [.]