Bartlett watched 'Snake Lizard Jonathon' and his accomplices walk away before finally taking his hand off the hilt of his sword and sighing deeply. That guy was also a pitiful person.
The Barbarian Adventurer knew that 'Snake Lizard Jonathon' came from a fallen noble family and also knew that he didn't like his nickname, which had led to frequent quarrels with other adventurers who called him by that nickname.
In a quarrel due to this nickname, the quarrel turned into conflict and fighting. 'Snake Lizard Jonathon' was outmatched and had his left hand cut off by a two-handed sword, while his chest was also stabbed. Fortunately, his studded leather armor was of good quality and saved his life.
To save him, 'Snake Lizard Jonathon's' mother sold off the little remaining family property and bought a healing potion called 'Felinka's Limb Regeneration Potion' from a mage. This reattached his left hand, and after three months of bedrest, he finally recovered. This, however, made the fallen family even poorer, worse off than a regular farming household.
But now it seems that 'Snake Lizard Jonathon' has matured a lot compared to before, at least he no longer draws his sword in anger just because someone teases him with his nickname.
Life always makes everyone 'mature' because those who aren't, are already 'dead'.
...
Bartlett continued, encountering people who greeted him along the way or patted his petrified cowhide armor. After all, this armor made from petrified cow hide's scale-like texture was the best material for armor, and it was something every adventurer wanted.
He passed through a thorn tent camp, where the 'ladies' lived. He used to frequent there, but now was not the right time for that. Moving forward a bit, Bartlett stopped by a stall selling 'Tear-Grass.'
"Hey, 'Crow', long time no see." He greeted the stall owner.
The stall owner fiddled with a wooden fake eye using his right hand while his left hand kept scratching his empty left eye socket. "Ha! Isn't this our most respected 'Feeder' sir! I didn't expect you to still be at 'Pig Bay'." The stall owner blinked his remaining eye, his expression respectful but his tone mocking.
Bartlett ignored the mockery and casually chatted: "Winter is finally over, isn't it? Everyone is getting busy again."
The stall owner pushed his fake eye back into its hollow. "'The Forest' is waking up from hibernation as well. I assume they're very hungry, are you preparing 'food' for them?"
You yourself are good food, especially your left eye, Bartlett thought to himself. Crow's left eye was pecked out by a crow - it's not a tongue twister but an ironic fact.
"No, I'm not planning to form a team for now. I'll see how this year goes first." Bartlett replied.
"What happened to the dwarf who was always with you before?" The stall owner asked teasingly, "Did you feed him too? But I must say, if I were you, I'd do the same. That dwarf's mouth is too poisonous, I don't know how you endure it..."
"Don't talk about useless things." Bartlett interrupted the stall owner, "Tell me about some interesting things that have happened recently."
That dwarf, he disappeared, during the underworld adventure a few months ago.
Maybe I shouldn't have gone to Muya City to accept tasks, Bartlett felt some regret. The location of the task was the underworld, a place he was completely unfamiliar with. They were attacked, but they didn't even know who the attacker was.
Both he and the dwarf were knocked out by the unseen attacker. When they woke up, the dwarf had disappeared and he had undergone this strange transformation...
"So much has happened recently." The one-eyed 'Crow' scratched his left eye again, "But my memory isn't very good."
Could it be worse than your vision? Bartlett took out three silver coins from his leather bag, "I guess these will jog your memory." He tossed the silver coins to the stall owner carelessly.
If Riley knew I was spending money like this, she'd hang me on the gallows first, and then hang you too, Bartlett thought to himself while watching the stall owner. Then she'd take the silver coins from your corpse. She'd definitely do that if she were the queen.
The stall owner reached out his hand, but the silver coins passed through Crow's cracked palm, and he caught none of them.
"Damn it, you're messing with me!" The stall owner bent down with difficulty to pick up the silver coins on the ground. "If it wasn't for that bird that should be in a soup pot eating my eyes, I would not only catch silver coins, but I could also shoot a fly's 'balls' with my flying axe as it passes by my eyes. You know I had that skill back then!"
He wasn't lying. Bartlett knew that 'Crow' used to be called 'Falcon', a very positive nickname like his own 'Dragon Slayer' (although it was a Land Dragon that he slayed).
"You should thank that bird. The pain of losing an eye woke you up. Otherwise, you would have lost more than just one eyeball." Bartlett picked up a small bundle of "Tear-Grass" and sniffed it under his nose.
"This isn't much better than being dead." The vendor stood upright and took a deep breath, "What exactly do you want to know?"
I want to know what kind of changes have happened to me, if my dwarf partner with a poisonous mouth is dead or not, and how to become a mage. There are so many things that I want to know!
"How many teams have gone to Foggy Forest so far?" he asked.
"Not including today, there should be six." The vendor spat on the ground, "'Pickled Olives', 'Giant Dragon's Gallows', 'Iron Throne', and three other unknown teams. Two of them are new faces, and the other one probably won't come back." Crow had only one eye, but he could 'see' a lot, "Because they hired 'Goodman Phil' as their guide..."
That means they probably won't come back. Bartlett nodded in agreement, "'Iron Throne' still hasn't disbanded?" he asked with some surprise.
"Temporarily not yet, although six leaders have died, there are always some reckless people wanting to take over." The vendor smiled, "Actually, I kind of hope you could lead them, I want to see if it's you who 'feeds' those fools into it, or if it's the fools who get you killed."
My life is more tenacious than anyone else's, Bartlett thought. He had always been the one to take on the most dangerous and deadly tasks in his past adventures, but in the end, he was still the one to survive.
After a brief chat with Crow, Bartlett prepared to leave.
"By the way, some strange people came to Pig Bay today looking for guides, and I heard the pay is pretty generous. If you're bored, you can go have a look. They should be near that pig scraps booth."
Bartlett nodded, turned, and walked back. He passed by the "Thorn Tent" area again when a fresh orange flew towards him from a distance. He caught the "hidden weapon" and looked back in the direction from which it flew.
Outside a colorful, patched tent among the thorns, a woman wearing a gray-pink linen robe leaned against a dwarf chestnut tree, smiling at the Barbarian Adventurer.
Bartlett knew her; a beauty who loved the 'Silver Gryphon' and the 'Gold King'. Unlike Riley, she was a real 'beauty'.
The Barbarian Adventurer had visited her tent many times, and he still remembered the woman's snow-white skin hidden underneath her linen robe, and her fiery, passionate response...
Such a woman would also have a nickname, like most adventurers, full of sarcastic implications, so Bartlett would never call her that. He only called her by her name — Elizabeth Russell.
Elizabeth didn't speak; she just smiled and silently looked at Bartlett. The Barbarian knew she was a woman of few words or did not need words. With just a glance, a gesture, or a slight sigh, she could convey her meaning.
Bartlett took a 'Silver Gryphon' from his Leather Bag and threw it at Elizabeth, saying to her, "Not today..."
Elizabeth skillfully caught the silver coin, spinning quickly in place, making her robe whirl, "Ready any time!" She blew Bartlett a kiss, smiling as she watched him leave.
An orange and a kiss for a silver coin, it was a worthwhile trade. Bartlett thought. Elizabeth always said his 'payment' was as generous as the mages. When she said that, her tone didn't sound like a metaphor; it was as if she really knew how generous those mages were.
Were there really mages who had taken care of her business? Bartlett shook his head. Based on his understanding of mages, those who could use Magic were indeed generous but unlikely to be manipulated by their lower body. Besides, if a mage had really visited her, she probably wouldn't have to stay in 'Pig Bay'...
Walking and peeling open the orange, Bartlett threw the peel by the roadside. The fresh orange emitted a delightful tangy fragrance that made him salivate, despite him having just eaten recently. He stuffed the orange into his mouth, getting juice all over his hands and face.
As he turned onto another road, he saw a crowd further away, obstructing the path. Many adventurers had gathered near a pig scraps booth, seemingly attracted by something happening there.
In 'Pig Bay', most of the meat was turned into jerky for easy carrying: pork jerky, beef jerky, rabbit jerky, Lizard jerky, and even Goblin jerky sold by unscrupulous merchants, and so on.
Jerky was one of the must-have foods for adventurers during outdoor exploration because being an adventurer was a profession that required a lot of physical consumption — surviving in the wild, long-distance travel, and frequent battles... thus, meat was indispensable.
Even on many occasions, the smoked and sun-dried jerky could be used as currency among adventurers, at least it was tougher than 'Gold King'.
More and more people crowded ahead, and every passing adventurer stopped to stretch their necks to see what was happening. Bartlett approached the crowd, guessing that the strange people Crow had mentioned were probably there.
...