Chapter 43: The road is uneven

The interlude of the fox dog fight was quickly forgotten, and the little fox man got into his backpack to rest when he had eaten his fill, and when it was nearly dinner time, the tavern was full of guests, and the benches were soon full. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info this tavern is the most upscale on the street, and its customers are not dock workers or farmers, but well-dressed travelers and hired samurai with some money in their pockets. After a few glasses of wine, these days, people from different backgrounds in the north and south began to exchange experiences and various hearsay on the road like old friends for many years: which nobles or even kings and the women around them fooled around, where there was a peasant riot who pulled the lord out of the castle and hanged him, and somewhere there appeared a living dead who could move, walk and bite, and so on.

Rhodes sat quietly and received the miscellaneous news. He doesn't have much experience, but he thinks these rumors are either funny or thrilling, which makes him listen to them with relish.

"What, is there a forest here?" he suddenly heard the small talk of several people who seemed to be lumberyard personnel, and couldn't help but ask on his own initiative.

"Your question is interesting, is there a mountain forest, you can go out and look to the east, do you still need to ask?" the speaker turned his half-bald head and stared at the boy with strange eyes.

"But I heard you talk about the orcs in the mountains over here. ”

"It was a long time ago, when the lumberyard first came here, and the orcs used to come out to make trouble, and occasionally take and injure a few lumberjacks, and then the army came and sifted through the nearby woods, and they were never seen again. "Maybe there are a lot of people sitting next to the young man, maybe he is already warm-hearted, but the person being questioned did not sell it. "Maybe they fled to the mountains, or they could have moved away. ”

"Thank you. Rod was relieved, he was afraid that he would find her home before he had eaten the silver in his mouth, and it would be embarrassing.

Morfan coughed lightly, covered his mouth with the back of his hand and gently reminded him: "Young man, you can't use it for a long time when you go out, thank you for a long time, you asked someone a question, and they politely answered you, at least you have to invite him to a glass of wine." ”

"Oh. The young man was as kind as a stream, and immediately stopped the maid who passed by: "Hello, please bring a bottle of good wine to the gentleman over there, count it on my account, thank you." ”

"Yes, sir. ”

When the maid walked away, Pauli sighed again: "She called you Lord...... You have the word noble written on your face, and you are mixed in our pile, so we can't keep a low profile. ”

"Is there one?" Rod touched his face inexplicably: "Aren't we doing serious business, why should we keep a low profile?"

"It's serious business, you don't have anything on your face, don't be nervous. Morfan smiled and comforted him, "People in these remote areas are called adults when they see a little more imposing, anyway, this must be right." ”

The bottle of wine he had asked for was brought to the lumberyard steward's table, and the other man raised his glass and gestured to Rhodes to express his gratitude and continue his dinner.

"Uh...... Sir, you work on the edge of the forest and you can see dragons?"

"Dragon, you mean the big winged lizards?" he shook his head without looking up, "I heard that I had it before I came, but if the bosses had it before they came, they were either driven away by the bosses who had invited a large group of hunters to find the nest, otherwise who would have dared to work there." We have to work to support our families, but not to the point where we can't live without doing this work. ”

"Yes. ”

"Why are you asking this, could it be that you and your armed buddies want to slay dragons?"

"No, I just ...... I've been living in the interior of the empire and want to see these strange things. Rod shook his head, he also knew that if he said something like slaying a dragon, he would be laughed at if he told outsiders.

"Midlanders?"

***

Rod looked at Morfan with some inexplicability: if he is not mistaken, he has not yet crossed the border, is this meeting a foreigner?

"The people who lived in the territory of the former Midland kingdom were called Midlanders by the people of these conquered lands. Although imperial law enshrined all citizens with the same rights, people always preferred to hug small groups for more security. Pauli was expressionless, explaining in a voice that only the people at this table could hear: "They are afraid that if they blur the line between us and us, they will be bullied by us Midlanders." ”

"That's right. "The world is a little different from what he thought," Rod thought to himself, but it was still acceptable.

Outside the tavern there was the sound of horses' hooves and wheels, and someone stopped at the door again. After a while, Dieter walked in with two guys: "It's almost, it's going to be dark if you don't leave." There weren't enough good rooms in the chamber of commerce guest house at the docks, so we went to the town next to it, not far away, and it was only a short walk away. Have you eaten enough, Xiao Luo?"

"Well, I'm full, let's settle the bill. ”

"Ha, it's good to be with you, even the accommodation conditions have risen with the tide. Morfan patted Rod on the back and stood up with a smile.

......

The Shadow Town, or Shadow Town, was an important timber producer in the northern part of the Empire, as well as a military center and one of the main transit points for entry and exit. The name is strange and a bit literary, but there is nothing magical about it: the east side of the town is a boundless mountain forest, and the highest peak of this mountain range is in a strange position - every morning at sunrise, when the surrounding fields and villages are already bathed in the sun, the town has to stay in the shadow of the mountain peaks for an extra ten minutes to see the sunrise.

It is no coincidence that the town is located here, and when the pioneers arrived hundreds of years ago, they were ordered by the king to work until dark every day from the time they saw the sun, and the original site was chosen by the original site to sleep in.

"It is said" after all, it is said, there is no need to investigate the authenticity of it, this area has a mild climate and plenty of sunshine, and it is indeed not bad for a little sunshine every day. Because of the walled walls of the border town, they arrived and entered Shadowtown before it was dark. The pedestrians on the streets had thinned out as it got late, and the sound of horses' hooves echoed through the streets, drowning out a dense and rapid shouting in the distance.

Rod suddenly came to his senses, and it happened that the two sides of the quarrel were on their way, and they arrived at the scene a moment later.

A man was yelling at a woman's hair, and the woman was grabbing the other person's arm and retorting fiercely at such a fast pace that the two of them spoke so fast, with accents and a bunch of foul words that Rod had never heard before, that he didn't understand for a while.

"Smack. With a crisp sound, the man yelled, shook off the woman and slapped her, which Rod understood: "Stinky-son." ”

"Don't be nosy. Dieter turned to Rhodes and said that it was too late. The boy quickly left the stirrup and jumped off the horse, picked up the woman who had fallen to the ground, and confronted the man with his eyes wide open.

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