Corey Conrad - No, the entire Thoradin Highlands, just like other places on the west coast, the so-called "civilized" area occupied by humans and established city-states and villages, actually only occupies a very small part of existence. .
Whether it is legend or reality, there are many magnificent and strange creatures in the vast unexplored wilderness that occupies a larger area. Most of them are ordinary beasts, a few are Warcraft, and those that are as rare as Warcraft, there are also some demihuman races①.
Because of the strength of humans, these demihuman races generally live in deep mountains and forests to avoid city-states with a large number of humans. It is said that during the expansion period of the Laman Empire, the empire's legions had many encounters with these natives. After both sides did not leave a good impression on each other, the unpopular demi-humans chose to stay away from humans, and With the progress of history, it gradually faded out of the sight of modern people.
Records such as written texts and books, as well as various other professional knowledge are controlled by nobles, scholars, and magician groups. Under such circumstances, ordinary people who do not understand demihumans will often have some strange things. Judgment or superstition.
——Henry, a group of four of them walked to the middle of this road at the end of June and towards July, and encountered such a scene when they came to a supply station.
There is no shortage of professions such as hunters in the Cory Conrad area. Although most people from the local area will choose to be mercenaries, the mercenaries here are still inclined to war after all, so there are still some who do not like to work with similar people. Those who fight will hunt wild beasts and the like to obtain furs, bones and flesh in exchange for money.
The supply station on the roadside is a place where people trade the items they obtain. In their spare time, it actually doesn’t look much different from a hotel, except that it usually only has one floor, from appearance to architectural style. Things like the bar are exactly the same.
But during busy periods - such as the moment right after a typhoon when many supplies are in demand, this supply station will be transformed into a larger area using linen, wooden poles and the like. Provide a space for people to trade and replace items with each other.
The items sold to adventurers, mercenaries, and passing merchants need someone to manufacture and provide them. The supply station itself cannot achieve the goal with only a few people, so naturally, it provides a relay station, or a market. function. People can store items here and wait to be sold to get a share. Of course, they can also come here to sell by themselves. As long as you go and pay the rent of ten iron coins, you can get a comfortable position under the sunshade linen.
"Hahahaha, don't laugh to death!" The West Coast Common Tongue with a strong Thoradin Highlands accent came out in unison. A middle-aged man wearing a short-sleeved leather jacket with a quiver hanging from his waist looked like a hunter. The young man shook his head helplessly at this group of people. The people standing in front of him were dressed in different costumes. Many of them were also green-label mercenaries. Without exception, these people had a smile on their faces. With a joking expression.
"What happened?" Curiosity is human nature. During the Laman Empire, a philosopher once conducted an interesting test: let a group of people stand in an empty place and point at the sky. The result is that the More and more people came to their side and began to work hard to see something in the sky - human beings are social animals, and it is natural to be curious about what a large group of similar people are doing. It is natural for us white-haired Luoan girls to Not exempt from the common practice, she took a step forward and asked.
"Oh, is the little girl from Luo'an?" The distinctive white hair is very recognizable even on this side. The hunter sighed in a tsk-tsk voice at the appearance of a girl who was a rare character, and then sighed again. He looked at the backs of the mercenaries who were still laughing as they walked away.
"Alas, none of these guys take my findings seriously." He patted his thigh in annoyance, while Henry and the three of them beside him also walked over slowly with their horses.
"Did you find it?" the girl asked curiously. Almonica next to her also stepped forward and came to her side. The blond girl also had a curious look on her face, which immediately made the hunter interested in talking.
"Goblin! Goblin!" He patted his thigh hard and then said happily.
"Gob what?" Mira frowned her slender eyebrows at the unfamiliar noun. Is this strangely pronounced word the local dialect of Thoradin? The girl thought about it, and the hunter was stunned for a moment, but before he spoke, Emonica next to him spoke up to explain to Mira: "They are a kind of little spirit. According to Thoradin's legend, they are very short. The skin is grey-green, even adults are only the size of human children, and they hunt using wooden and stone clubs, bows, arrows and darts."
Emonica said this, and Mira opened her eyes in sudden realization: "Ah! It's a dwarf." She used the Roan language to describe it. Obviously, this kind of creature is found in various parts of the Rigar continent. There is evidence of sightings everywhere.
"Well, yes, yes, they are such a kind of demi-human. I met them this morning when I was chasing a stag. There were about a dozen of them, armed with weapons and murderous intent. I was so scared that I turned around. Just ran away." The hunter said as if he didn't feel any shame about his behavior of escaping, and his reaction was appropriate in Mira's opinion.
In the legends of the Kingdom of Roan, goblins - or dwarves - are not as kind as the dwarves their names sound related to. Many stories say that they will disguise themselves as humans. It looks like a child and sneaks into the family, and then in the middle of the night when people are sleeping, it bites the skull with its fangs and sucks out the brain.
Because the skin of goblins is gray-green, when they pretend to be children, they will first kill the children of the owner and then peel off their skins and put them on themselves. This is said in the former Mira's It left a deep shadow in her heart, but now that she has grown up, she can probably understand that this is actually a story used by adults to scare disobedient children - but no matter what, the existence of such demi-human creatures The likelihood of it being true is quite high.
"These nasty things are extremely scary. You'd better not--" "Come on, Damian, stop bragging about what you've seen-" Before the hunter could finish his words, he was interrupted by another person next to him. He was interrupted, and everyone turned to look. The man looked like he was traveling with him, but his clothes were more refined, and he also had a formal mercenary tag around his waist - he was a hunting mercenary. It can be seen as a high-level organized hunter.
"Don't believe him either. This guy keeps saying what he saw every two days. For God's sake, he even said last time that he saw a giant dragon hundreds of meters long flying across the sky. I'm just curious why. Damian was the only one who saw such a big dragon flying across the entire Core Conrad." The hunting mercenary shook his head and sighed before carrying a few rabbits strung with hemp ropes in the other direction. Walking away, it seemed that he was going to join his group members.
"This hateful guy..."
"Anyway, in short, I met those guys near Lake Leyika in front. If you want to go to the port, the most convenient place to refill water on this section of the road is there, because most of the time, normal human activities are not too big. It's dangerous, but you have to be careful this time." Damian said with a very serious expression: "Those goblins are said to kidnap human women and use them as breeding tools, little girls like you - "
Damian had been too preoccupied with the conversation to observe carefully. Now he took a glance and suddenly discovered that Mira was wearing a set of expensive plate armor and a blue mercenary badge on her belt.
"Guh--" He raised his head and looked at the other people. The tall sage with black hair was carrying a big sword that looked very violent, and Joshua, who was holding another horse next to him, was equipped with Not as good as the two of them but wearing an orange mercenary badge. In addition, there are two horses that are taller and more majestic than the horses on this side, with oily skin and very strong.
"General, general, general, general, please be careful, so I'll say goodbye!" Damian, who suddenly stuttered and started using honorifics, packed up his things, turned around and ran to another place. The white-haired Luoan girl stood there blankly, then turned to look at Emonica beside her.
"Pfft -" "Pfft hahahahahahaha." The blonde girl smiled with her usual cheerful smile, and Joshua, who was behind him even though he couldn't see clearly but guessed with his keen hearing, also had the same curvature of his mouth. Nothing could be dispersed, and only the black-haired sage looked at the back of the hunter who ran away in a hurry, sighing slightly.
…
The food and other supplies such as ropes consumed along the way have been replenished here. The storm raged a few days ago, but all traces still remain here.
There are no hotels on this section of the road after the middle section. According to the staff here at the supply station, there was one before, but because the middle section of the road has several trails connecting to the chaotic south, there are often grassland robbers coming from here, so the guards were hired. The cost was too high, and because of the danger, merchants and travelers did not intend to stay, so it was unable to make ends meet and was later abandoned.
Nowadays, most travelers taking this road will choose to set off in the early morning and then drive through this dangerous area overnight, and then cross it to the shores of Lake Leica mentioned by the previous hunter Damian, choosing to stay in the leeward direction. If you set up camp halfway up the slope, usually no one or thing will come to disturb your peace.
Lakes located in the forest are always inaccessible, and merchants who are in a hurry usually don't choose to stay, especially when the storm has just passed. People who haven't caught up with the last sea trip are worried that the next storm will drag on. will come. Therefore, the only ones who would station there were the less impatient Henry and four of them.
The existence of the goblins mentioned by the hunter Damian made them more or less wary, but if they carefully thought about the configuration of the team members - Mira felt that she really had nothing to worry about. .
With Henry and Joshua, two guys with incredible fighting skills, even the terrifying dwarf in the legend would definitely be wiped out without even being able to rely on him. Although it is said that they can disguise themselves as human children, Mira is very doubtful whether this trick can be used in front of Henry, who has the name of a sage.
No matter what, with a little vigilance, the group continued to move towards the east.
The fallen tree and the rocks, branches and leaves that fell on the ground pointed out the direction of the storm for everyone, but compared to all of this, Mira was once again grateful that her group stayed in the shelter. Perhaps it also counts the broken carriage that I saw when I was halfway there.
Although it is a common shape, the girl has some impression of it. Because it was also covered with a piece of waterproof linen, and the unique thing was that it was made up of half black and half white - the carriage covered with the same tarpaulin she had seen running wildly at the door of the hotel a few days ago However, I guess it was the businessman who wanted to get to the port before the storm arrived, but he was unfortunately killed in the end.
The carriage was crushed under a big tree and was already in pieces. The open wooden boxes on top were empty. It seems that people passing by after the disaster took advantage of them and picked up the goods and coins inside. Come on, Mira frowned, and Emmanica next to her made a praying posture.
Neither the bodies of the horses nor the men were found, just like those of the thieves who had been dumped outside the hotel. In the face of the power of the storm that can uproot heavy bamboo fences and large trees and throw them far away, how can the bodies of mere humans or horses be able to compete.
The sky was clear after the wind and rain. The sun's scorching heat for several days had returned the road to a dry and hard appearance, and the trampling of horses raised a lot of dust. The group stopped briefly and picked up a lot of sun-exposed wood on the roadside and put it on their horses. It was getting late, and they passed by the abandoned hotel that the supply depot staff mentioned in the distance. The open door The gate, the winding vines, and the moss made it look mind-numbing. Although green was the color of life, it was somehow scary in this situation.
The hotel at the next stop would have to be walked for at least several hours until almost early in the morning. The four of them were not in a hurry. They got back on the horse and walked forward leisurely for a while. Saw a secluded path leading to the shores of Lake Leyika.
Before it was completely dark, Henry made several torches with the tools he carried and the firewood he had just picked up. After that, the group selected a half-slope and began to set up camp.
Just after the storm, the weather returned to the unbearable hot feeling. Mira was sweating profusely and lit a bonfire. She took off her plate armor and cotton armor because of the sweltering heat, but thought about what she had heard before. However, she endured the sweltering heat and put it on again.
Emmanica next to her seemed a little absent-minded. The Luoan girl called her several times but there was no response.
"Ah, sorry, sorry, I took a break." The bonfire gradually burned, a tent was set up to heat the food, the last ray of light disappeared in the distance, and the orange in the sky was gradually replaced by dazzling stars.
Night fell. (To be continued.)
