Ximu Town is located on the Wangdong Cliff and is divided into two floors. Most of the hotels, inns and houses are located on the upper floors of the cliffs, while the harbour is naturally at the bottom of the cliffs, and the two areas are separated by cascading staircases and cranes.

As a seaport city, the streets of Ximu Town have always been bustling with people. People talk loudly, laugh and exchange goods from the Old and New Worlds. There is always something to be busy with: coolies climb up and down with their goods, merchants exchange information and negotiate prices, they scratch their heads, and thugs rely on their eyesight to judge who is a fat sheep and who cannot be provoked. In the corner of the port, it is not known whose body is lying in the gutter, naked, being eaten by a swarm of rats. People don't care about these things, they think, "If no one reports it, then he doesn't deserve to be cared for." ”

Walking down the crowded tavern streets, you can often see two or three groups of patrol guards, dressed in leather armor dyed bright yellow, armed with short sticks and small wooden shields. These are patrols in Ximu Town, organized by the Merchants' Federation to maintain the legal order of commerce here, and they are known as "weasels" by the residents here. If there is a pirate attack or robbers here, there will be another group of people who are driven by gold coins to fight for their lives, and that is the "mercenaries".

Merchants don't like mercenaries because they always like to take advantage of the fire and raise prices, the inhabitants don't like mercenaries because they always get into trouble and deceive the good and fear evil, the "weasels" don't like mercenaries because they are always vulgar and hot-tempered, and even the tavern owners don't like mercenaries, especially when they are drunk and fighting. It is estimated that the only mercenaries in the entire town have a good impression of **, but even this is discounted because the mercenaries are too athletic.

Aside from the stew at the Stormy Night Inn, Siegel doesn't have a good idea of Creekwood. Every time he arrived by boat, he would follow the old captain to the tavern, eat a large pot of stew, get half drunk, and then obediently return to the ship, which would always be with him.

The innkeeper was Timothy, a former mercenary and seaman, who later used the money he earned to open the inn in Creek Town. He knew the old captain well, and it is said that he had also gone to sea together, but that must have been before the lucky Soth.

Every day, the innkeeper prepares a large pot of stew and serves the guests at any time. The stew is made with large pieces of meat, liver, and a variety of fresh vegetables, as well as apples and pears, all of which are things that cannot be found at sea. The beds are soft and comfortable, and there are several hammock rooms with fireplaces. Despite the higher fees, the big-spending seafarers love it.

It was morning, and there was only one customer in the store except for two drunken drunkards. Timothy, with her red and shiny rosacea nose, wiped her hands on the oily apron on her chest, and held a pot of freshly made smorgasbord stew in front of the young man.

"Brunette, why didn't you see that sir?

"Yes, I can rest today, Sir Bill has his own business to attend to. Siegel shoved a spoon into his mouth, he had been getting hungry from too much practice lately.

"Eat slowly, don't choke, and no one will rob you. The boss asked the errand boy to bring a large jug of ale and handed it to Siegel. "Are you still comfortable living on land, are you in any danger?"

"It's all right, I've learned a lot. Siegel replied with a smile: "For the first time, I have a dividend, a full 5 gold coins." ”

"You can put it away, don't tell anyone else. When I was a mercenary, I hid all my money well, so I was able to retire safely and open such a hotel. ”

"This inn is the best!"

"No one believes you," the boss replied with a smile.

A rumbling sound from the stomach of a drunk customer is heard by the perceptive boss. He was all too familiar with this kind of person to know that it was the sound of them waking up and needing to empty their stomachs. The boss strode forward, grabbed a customer by the collar with one hand, and threw the two guys on the road outside the door before they could vomit.

Every morning, the horse-drawn cart carrying the ingredients stopped in front of the store, and the owner began to bargain with the vendors again. The road to the west has not been smooth in recent times, and it is said that there are trolls who have attacked several caravans. Viscount Kira of Fort Hub has sent his guards, along with the knights of the Church of Dawn, to exterminate these monsters. Vendors have already raised prices for a week because of this, and Timothy thinks it's been long enough.

"Who would have thought that those noble knights were not as effective as mercenaries?" the merchant defended in his usual shrewd tone, "that it would be better to spend some gold coins in exchange for a gang of people to die." ”

"Then the Chamber of Commerce will be able to lower the price of vegetables and show kindness?"

"Oh, dear Uncle Timothy, what do you have to lose by the price that goes up, and what do you have to lose? The seamen are willing to spend money, and they are not good at arithmetic, and their memory is not good, and they don't care if you take a few copper plates or two silver coins. The vendor rubbed his hands together and took out the cabbage from the basket: "You see, although the price has gone up, it is still fresh." ”

Siegel quickly finished a large pot of stew and felt much more comfortable. It's not easy to sleep outside, but there are no complaints about making money. This time, he made a small profit by following Sir Bill to exterminate the kobold bandits, and by selling the staff with the ball of light on it, Siegel got a total of 6 gold coins. Jazz told him that one of them was for food and drink, and that the other five were dividends for him to buy some suitable equipment at will. Siegel felt that he was quite rich, so he placed a silver coin under the basin as the cost of the stew.

"I'll worry about light crossbows and weapons, you go buy something else. Before they parted, Sir Bill admonished him: "Little cub, think of what you have learned, what you can afford, and what you must prepare? ”

Siegel fidded with his backpack, which had plenty of room for things, after all, there were only a few books stuffed into it. The books were all trophies, from that spellcaster's backpack. These things don't sell for much money, after all, the owner of the weapon shop has no interest in books, so he leaves them all to Siegel. Using the key he found in his handsome bald boots, he opens the only locked book. It was a spell book, full of hard symbols and weird phrases.

The old captain had told him that pirates would use secret language to convey messages about which ships were worth attacking and where they were heading. Siegel estimates that the book was also written in cipherland. In his free time, he would read the books and try to demystify the secret language as a good game.

The old captain told him many things, "the treasures of the West, the secrets of the world" and so on. But there are still too many unknowns to hide around Siegel, including his background. Every time he saw his own face in a basin or in a bronze mirror, his natural black hair and pupils, what kind of parents could give birth to a child of such a appearance? Siegel had never seen or even heard of a similar facial feature. The old captain blamed God for everything, and that could explain a lot of things, but God never solved Siegel's doubts. Only that twentie-sided dice kept reminding Siegel of this problem. When he arrives in Creekwood, he notices that the dice have changed, and the color of the number one has changed. As Siegel stroked it with his fingers, he had a strange sensation of realizing the change in his body - spell resistance.

It was this ability that allowed him to quickly recover from battle without falling under the spells of the horse thief. However, Siegel also understands that such resistance is not a panacea, and recovery requires a painful process and a great deal of physical exertion - and that only by continuing to improve the quality of the body can it survive. The old captain once said that many races are born with spell resistance, such as dwarves and elves (the old captain remembers wrongly, elves are spell affinity), and he also said that all gods are not afraid of spells.

Siegel is glad that he can have this kind of resistance, and there is nothing wrong with having one more ability to protect himself. He also wondered if he could still gain some magical power with so many sides to the dice? The only pity was that he didn't know how this power was activated, and could only guess that a life-and-death scenario might be one of the triggers.

Just because Siegel likes to live an adventurous life doesn't mean he likes to die. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare various items before each action. He didn't dare to jump off a cliff or go to the dragon's lair unprepared, as the main character of the story does—he wanted to be alive, and he didn't want to be a troubadour's poetry for the time being.

There is a grocery store not far from the night of the storm where you can buy all sorts of things. When he was a seaman, Siegel frequented the area, buying things like ropes, fishing rods and hammocks. Now that he had become a knight's servant, it was the first time he had entered.

Pushing open the wooden fence gate, the crisp bell was touched. The grocery store was piled up from the floor to the roof, with armor, weapons, containers, tools, and bottles of liquor mixed together, some covered in dust.

A dwarf heard the doorbell, jumped off the grocery pile, and ran with open arms. He was only half the height of Siegel, but four times his age—though he was only a young adult among the gnomes. In order to appear more mature and not to be bullied, the dwarf has a thick fake beard on his mouth, and several short iron rods are stuck in his waist.

"Oh, welcome, squid child!" the dwarf hugged Siegel vigorously and said, "You have grown taller and stronger again. I envy your dark hair, if only I had it. ”

"Okay, okay, Ding Bao-Turan, I have some things here for you to take a look at, and buy some miscellaneous items by the way. ”

"Oh...... Oh, I'm so sad!" The dwarf opened his mouth wide and looked insulted: "We two know each other so well, you still call me by my full name!...... It's so distant, it's so strange! My chest hurts!"

"Do you think there's anything to call your nickname called Pi Duck?!"

"I love to hear it, and I'll give you a discount for it. The dwarf twisted his waist and snapped his fingers.

"Alright, duck, show me this gem. Siegel said weakly.

The gem was finally valued at 20 gold, a common trophy for the team that would not be distributed until Sir returned. The other gem was in Jazz's, and Siegel thought Jazz would find another way to do it.

"I need rope with a grappling hook, new flint, torches and a canvas. If you have a fishing net here, give me a sturdy, tuna net. ”

"Why, you're going to sea again? I heard you're already living on land, didn't the Soth have already sailed away?"

"This time it's for netting people, not catching fish. Siegel replied, "I've encountered an enemy, but my martial arts skills are mediocre, so I can only think of other ways." I've been thinking for the past few days that if I have a sturdy fishing net, I'll put the enemy in it and win!"

"Good idea, I wish you success. The dwarf clapped his hands, put down his nets, and turned to walk deeper into the room. What Siegel wanted was actually a fishing net, something that gladiators and barbarians liked to use. Ordinary fishing nets can tear violently, and it is difficult to control the enemy. Fishing nets, which are specially prepared for catching slaves or hunting large four-legged creatures, are much more expensive than fishing nets - but ducks don't say anything.

"What else do you need, squid child?"

"I don't have any ideas. Siegel clapped his hands, he had already sorted out half a bag of things, and he always had to think about his own weight. "Do you have any introduction?" he asked.

"Why don't you give yourself a suit of armor?" said the dwarf, "there's always an extra layer of protection." ”

"But the simplest thick cloth armor also costs 8 gold coins, and I can't afford it. Siegel replied, "Sir Bill takes good care of me and won't let me go into battle for the time being." So as long as I'm clever and don't attract the attention of the enemy, I'll be safe. Besides, I've never seen any other knight in Creekwood who can afford to wear armor. ”

"That's because they don't have a dwarf friend called Pi Ya. Remember, don't tell anyone. ”

With that, the grocer dragged the black-haired young man and led him to the warehouse at the back of the store, where there was a mountain of things piled up, and a few other gnomes were sorting and sorting them out and registering them. When these people saw Siegel coming in, they raised their heads and waved to greet him: "You must be the child of that squid, you really look weird and interesting, welcome!"

Pi Ya pointed to a pile of worn armor, including leather armor, leather armor, chain mail, and scale armor, all of which had been picked up from the battlefield, badly damaged, and of various sizes and styles. The gnome explained that the adventurers had brought back a lot of this broken armor, but they couldn't sell it for a few bucks. If these things are simply used as scrap metal for the blacksmith shop, the price is very low, and it is not enough to ship it back. Grocery stores can maximize the value by recovering these things at a higher price, picking out useful parts and detachable parts, and leaving only those pure metal scraps to throw away to the blacksmith.

"Recycling is a university question. The dwarf shook his finger proudly, "I can make money from this secret!"

"So you're going to give me a discount?"

"No, I'm just giving you a chance to see your luck. Pi Ya smirked: "You give me two gold coins, and I will let you stay here for a day, and you can find parts from this pile of things yourself." When the sun goes down, you can leave with up to one set of armor. If you can't afford armor, don't blame me. ”