Wocheze, a Nord city on the peninsula, was also the first city that the Nords invaded in Calradia, and the long-term war with Virgia led to the growing poverty here, the trade routes were almost completely blocked, and Fatis sat in the tavern drank the tasteless ale, looking at the pickled dried fish on the plate in a daze.

A few months ago it would have been full on the evening, but now there is no cheese or meat, not to mention grapes and olives, which have to be trafficked elsewhere. Except for a few drunkards who often sit at night, the hall is empty, and it is winter. The cold wind blew through the cracks in the walls of the dilapidated wooden buildings of the Nords, and Fatis shivered.

"Boss, can't you fix your wall panels?" lived here for more than a year, and the cold made him suffer from severe rheumatism.

"Well, what can be done, if there is that money, the shop will not only sell salted dried fish," the shopkeeper sighed, shaking his head, "it is said that King Ragnar is now trying to win over Svadia, and in this case, the war with Virginia will probably continue for a while." ”

As the two were talking, the door of the shop was suddenly pushed open, and a man in a black cloak walked in with a body of wind and snow, and Fatis happened to see a strand of long golden hair falling from the brim of the hood. A woman.

The visitor walked to the counter and asked the proprietor for a glass of mead, and when she heard that there was only dried salted fish left in the shop, she hesitated slightly, but finally nodded, picked a seat by the stove, took off the wet cloak, and leaned against the table against something, and Fatis saw the bulging edge of the cloak.

In a place like Nord, where the people are strong. It is not uncommon for women to use weapons, but the girl in front of her is only about sixteen or seventeen years old, and she is not as tall as a Nord woman. The handguard sword is not a favorite weapon of the Nords. With her long hair and a delicate, serene face, Fatis felt that this was more like a southern girl, the kind that grew up in a gentle country like Viruja.

"Aha, there's a little beauty over there," said a muffled voice from the other side of the corner, and it seemed that the person who spoke was very drunk—Fatis could tell that it was a regular customer of the shop, and that the Woche was a notoriously pissful in the city.

It's about early in the morning, and the drinkers who have been drinking all night are eight points drunk. As soon as I heard the word 'beauty' say, they all seemed to be excited, and except for Fatis, all the five or six men present stood up from their seats.

Seeing this, the owner of the hotel hid in the back room with great interest. Several men surrounded the girl - she remained silent, slowly sipping the mead in the cup, and Fatis saw it, and subconsciously touched the sword at his waist.

"Oh. This little is really good."

"Isn't it? Compared to the yellow-faced woman at home, that's really "

The drunkards had an undisguised lewd smile on their faces, and the one who took the lead reached out to touch the girl's face, but the girl just raised her hand to check it away, and the rest of the men became more excited when they saw this, and the laughter almost lifted the whole roof.

A hand rested on the girl's delicate shoulder, and Fatis stood up and pressed his right hand against the hilt of his sword, but the girl did not move. The hand slid down to her chest

"Stop!" Fatis drew his sword.

However. Things were beyond the expectations of everyone present, the girl who had been silent suddenly grabbed the thing under the cloak, and the unrecognizable movements swept towards the faces of the men in a circle, and the drunkards were already slow to react, and at this time they only felt a hot pain on their faces, and their bodies fell to the ground backwards.

"Damn, stinky bitch" The man in the lead was so angry that he wanted to draw the sword he had with him, but the girl was much faster than him, and the black cloak was scattered on the ground, revealing a long sword with a well-decorated exterior, drawing and stabbing it, and the blade was pointed at the throat of the fallen man.

"Pong!!"

A pig-killing howl followed, and the sharp tip of the sword pierced the man's left ear - the handguard sword was slightly off target, and Fatis stood to the girl's right with the sword in hand.

"It's hard for the store to do business. ”

The girl raised her eyes and looked at the middle-aged man standing beside her—Fatis saw that the emerald eyes were as calm as water—and put the sword back into its sheath, drained the little wine that was left at the bottom of the cup, threw a few dinars on the counter, and went straight upstairs.

The people lying on the ground looked in horror at what had just happened.

"What a skill. The shopkeeper, who was hiding in the back room, walked from the inside to the counter, and it seemed that he had been secretly watching just now.

"yes, that girl is not simple. Fatis sighed as he put his sword back into its scabbard.

The sun was a rare peeking out of the sky, and when Fatis opened his eyes from his bed, it was nearly noon.

"Alas, didn't you drink a little too much last night" Straightening up his clothes and hair, he picked up the sword at the bedside and prepared to go out.

Although the weather was fine, there would never be a warm time in the winter of Nord, and Fatis rubbed his hands together, his breath dissipating into a white mist in the air, and as soon as the door was opened, he found a person already standing on the narrow balcony.

It was the girl from last night, wearing only a white nightgown at this time, her hair was a little messy and draped over her shoulders, her arms were folded in front of her chest, looking at the street where there were not many pedestrians, and her clear eyes seemed to be so calm forever, even at the moment when she was killing with a sword, that look never wavered in the slightest.

"Well, good morning. For some reason, Fatis felt the need to say hello to her.

The girl looked back at him and turned around.

"Thank you so much for standing up for my business last night. ”

The girl with a cold expression said this, which surprised him slightly, and Fatis was stunned for a moment, nodded slightly at the girl in front of him, and prepared to go downstairs.

"What does Your Excellency do?"

"I don't have a serious job, and I rush to the town or nearby villages if I need help. ”

"Ranger?"

"Sort of. With that, Fatis nodded to the girl again and went downstairs.

"Ouch, Mr. Fafatis" was walking down the street, when a hurried voice suddenly stopped him, and the man with the sword looked back to see that the mayor of the town was waving at him.

"Something's wrong, it's making you rush like this. ”

"Oh, there's trouble, only you can do this, you used to be a cavalry instructor in Paravon, in terms of skill"

"Okay, let's get down to business. "The last thing Fatis can't stand on weekdays is endless nonsense.

"That's right, my brother is a well-known merchant in Viruja, and he sent a letter a few days ago, saying that two weeks ago a gang of robbers kidnapped her daughter, which is my niece, and that gang of thieves said that they would ransom people with 4,000 dinars in Jayek, and the money has been sent with the letter, so please trouble you"

"Pay the ransom? ”

"How can this work, what if the kidnappers take the money and don't let them go, you have to have someone who has the ability to go. ”

The mayor had a point, and Fatis fell into deep thought.

"Don't worry, as long as I can save my niece, the honorarium is absolutely indispensable, not to mention too much, I can still afford 1,000 dinars"

"Alright then, I promise. When he heard of this number, Fatis readily agreed, and the mayor gave him 4,000 dinars, and told him to hand over the money to the kidnappers within three days. He took the money and went back to the hotel to prepare some business.

The owner of the hotel greeted the regular customers when he saw them enter the door.

"Give me a portion of dried fish, and some honey on the bread, and some mead in the morning. ”

The owner put everything he needed on a plate and brought it over.

"So generous early in the morning, and big business again?"

"Ah, sort of. Fatis took the plate, looked around the hall, and found that all the seats were full, and only one person sat at the table by the stove - the girl was eating bread dipped in honey alone, and the atmosphere in the whole shop was strange, and he saw that the one who had been pierced last night had also come, with gauze wrapped around his head, whispering something to the people at the table, and occasionally pointing to the girl who had her back to him.

The sword-wielding man brought the food to the girl's side and sat down across from her, who looked up at him, did not speak, and continued to nibble on her bread on her own.

Fatis didn't say anything more, and began to cook his hearty breakfast, and the girl finished her bread and looked at the food on his plate.

"Is there a very profitable business?"

"Huh?" Fatis nodded as he nibbled on the dried fish, "ransom from the kidnappers." ”

"Hire more?"

"There's no need, after paying the money, the kidnappers will generally release them themselves. ”

"How much?"

"4,000 ransom, I get 1,000 after bringing people back. ”

The girl was silent for a moment, then looked up.

"Hire someone, kill the kidnappers, isn't the ransom yours?"

Hearing this, Phatis almost vomited what he had eaten.

"Just kidding, miss, that's a risk, just in case"

"With me, I think the odds of success will increase dramatically."

With that, the girl stood up and left her seat and walked up the stairs, leaving a stunned Fatis sitting still.

"I always felt that kid weird. The innkeeper walked behind the sword-wielding man with the cleaned plate.

"yes, very interesting kid. Compared to last night's events, Fatis looked at the girl's back with a more meaningful gaze

(To be continued......)