Just as Bartlett's thoughts were once again immersed in memories, a tall and fat adventurer, so fat that his neck was almost invisible, walked up to him.
This adventurer was wearing a dark green woolen sweater, covered with a similarly colored sleeveless double-layered leather armor. On each side of his waist hung a one-handed battleaxe, and on his shoulders, he wore a light gray wide cape embroidered with a fir tree pattern.
The cape was so large that it could wrap the adventurer entirely, and with his round, plump figure, it made him look quite comical.
The fat adventurer glanced at the reward column and then looked at the Barbarian: "Caesar, huh? Looks like you're still reminiscing about your old 'friend'."
The talking adventurer's nickname was "BigBird Roberts." Although his real name was not Roberts but Dick, his manhood was truly enormous - no joke, it was really big! So the adventurers took the protagonist's name from a very famous low novel and used it as his nickname.
As a male, Dick was obviously very satisfied with this nickname, and he never mentioned his real name again.
There was a popular ballad in that novel, often sung in taverns in various cities. Each time, it would make the atmosphere of the tavern lively. The ballad went something like this:
"Roberts' head is a bit slow, but his size is quite big, women giggle when they see him because it's not just his height that's large; Heave ho, heave ho, women say he's like a horse because it's not just his height that's large; women are crazy about loving him, because it's not just his height that's large... "
Bartlett turned his head to look at the speaker beside him and then shifted his gaze back to the reward column. "Reminiscing? No." He said, "A bloodthirsty monster; I don't think anyone would miss it."
"Indeed." The remarkably endowed speaker nodded, "How many of our colleagues were killed by it? I remember the number counted by Mist Castle had already exceeded 500. But as you know, those unfortunate souls who weren't included must be even more numerous."
Mist Castle would count the number of deaths and reasons for them amongst adventurers every year. But due to the special nature of the Foggy Forest and the chaotic mobility of adventurers in Pig Bay, these counted numbers were often inaccurate. Many unknown adventurers disappeared quietly every year, with no one knowing where they had been or whether they would return.
"BigBird Roberts" hitched up his belt weighed down by the two one-handed battleaxes and continued, "At that time, when we saw its head hanging on the gate of Mist Castle, everyone breathed a sigh of relief."
"Relieved? No, you can never 'let your guard down' in the Foggy Forest." Bartlett shook his head, "Otherwise, you won't have the chance to take another breath."
"Come on, save those words for educating those rookies who know nothing about goblins." Roberts was somewhat dissatisfied, "They will look up to you in admiration as you speak the truth, and then wait for you to throw them in one by one."
Roberts and Bartlett had a good relationship. Long ago, they had spent a considerable amount of time together in an adventurer team called the "Black Bitch." Later, the team leader died, and the team disbanded. Roberts then joined another adventurer team called "Lazy Lady Kelsey," while Bartlett became the leader himself and turned into the "Feeder" of Foggy Forest.
Speaking of which, Roberts' tone changed again, somewhat apprehensively saying, "But it's true, you can never be too careful in the Foggy Forest."
A group of neatly dressed knights patrolled past Bartlett and Roberts, and almost every one of them patted Roberts' fat ass wrapped in his cloak as they passed by.
"Hey! If you pat me again, you'll have to pay!" Roberts shouted, "One 'Griffin' per pat, thank you for your patronage! Oh, Captain Burton, if it's you, I can give you a 20% discount!"
"Only the women's asses in the Thorn Tent are worth this price, and you, even if you want to sell, no one would buy it." The bearded knight captain stopped and mocked Roberts.
Everyone liked to joke around with Roberts. He was like the comical clown in a circus, not only in appearance but also in character. Everyone wanted to tease him, and Roberts himself didn't mind it at all.
Only one knight passing by Bartlett patted Barbarian on the shoulder. Bartlett recognized him as Grand Knight Rayne, the second son of the Miller Family in Carano Town. His brother was also a knight of the Golden Clover Knights. In a mission to clear the Foggy Forest, he had his head smashed into a strawberry pie by the four-armed Caesar through the Griffin Helmet.
Bartlett and Knight Rayne nodded at each other as they brushed past. As the knights departed, he turned to look back at Roberts, "After the last time you were injured, I thought you wouldn't want to do this job anymore."
"At that time, I indeed didn't want to do it anymore because that injury almost killed me." The popular chubby adventurer was still fearful. "You know, a hole was opened through my chest at that time." He gestured with his hand, "Like, right next to my left nipple. The wound wasn't big, just as thick as a fingertip, but it hurt my fragile heart."
He took a breath, then reached inside his leather armor and touched the spot where the wound had been, "Can you imagine? That mutated spiky hedgehog was actually able to shoot its back spikes out, and they were even faster than crossbow bolts. My armor couldn't even stop them! But the armor I wore back then really needed to be replaced; even a thick felt coat would've been more useful."
I can imagine that even if it's a weak, jumping mouse, I would spare no effort. "So, in the Foggy Forest, you can never relax." Bartlett repeated.
"That hedgehog was a bit bigger than a dog and screamed like a mouse. At that time, 'Otter Vagg' was amusing it from the front, and Terry was a little impatient, asking us to hurry up. So, I decided to give it a harsh hit from the side; I had never tasted hedgehog meat before. But before I could kill it, it knocked me down first. Apart from when the girl next door dumped me, my heart has never been so hurt."
"Then she must not know about a certain advantage of yours." Bartlett joked. He rarely made jokes, but only because the other person was BigBird Roberts.
"Unfortunately, she knew. We grew up together and often bathed in the river together. I even know that there's a brown birthmark on her left buttock that looks like a titmouse. I don't know why, but whenever I see a titmouse, that half-buttock always appears in my mind."
Following this conversation, the image of a certain wine-red girl appeared in Bartlett's mind, and he sighed in his heart, "How's the wound now?" He asked casually.
"Already healed, but it left a scar that's not too big, about the size of a pig's nipple." Roberts pursed his lips, "But at least it saved my life, right?"
"So, do you now have three nipples?" Bartlett laughed.
"You could say that." Roberts didn't mind, "But one of them is flat. Even if it wasn't flat, they wouldn't have any other uses." The plump adventurer reached behind his back and, finding it difficult to scratch the itch through his armor, stuck his hand inside the armor and scratched vigorously.
"When you left with that dwarf, I knew that one day you'd come back." Roberts said to Bartlett, "But I wasn't expecting it to be so soon. It seems that life outside isn't going so smoothly either."
Bartlett didn't answer, "And you?" He asked Roberts, "Weren't you scared last time you got hurt?"
"At first, I didn't want to do this job anymore, but after two days of farming back home, I felt that being a farmer was really boring. Plus, I owed some money from playing cards, you know, my luck has never been good, so I just came back..."
Just then, a melodious horn sounded, and Bartlett knew that it signified the opening of the Toes Gap under the southern wall of Mist Castle. Adventurers chatted and laughed with one another as they rushed toward the city gate.
"Hey! The gate is open. I need to find Terry and the others." Roberts said, "Let's get together another time."
Bartlett nodded, and silently added in his heart, if we can both make it back alive.
Not far away, Bartlett saw Old Will waving at him, so he walked toward the Low Novel group and prepared to set off for the Foggy Forest...