Arcane splendor begins with the throne

Chapter 4 The Hammer Tavern
In late autumn, the desolate dead branches drooped sluggishly, and under the raging wind and rain, they wept like sobs. Brian wandered on the muddy road, riding alone on horseback.

Under the drizzle, his wet hair drooped heavily, and a few disobedient strands stuck to his forehead. It's not hard to imagine how embarrassed he looked.

But Brian didn't care at all. The rain in the northern part of the Asno continent was cold and relentless. Sometimes it would turn into frost at night, and even kill people.

Even so, he still likes to use his cheeks to feel the wetness to the bone.

Because this feeling can always bring him back to his childhood in the other world, and remind him of those gray days spent in the elf sanctuary 'Blackman'.

He remembered the damp and misty oak forest, with its drooping branches and leaves, full of natural atmosphere, and the half-elf and elf children chasing among the piles of wet leaves, with crisp laughter, which always made him hide in the tree. Can't help laughing.

He remembered mastering the sword dance of the elves, balancing his body expertly on a long plank suspended by chains, while striking a human torso carved from locust wood with his sword.

I remember every scar I left on the lifelike human sculpture, I remember the first time I stabbed its carotid artery with the tip of my sword, but it pierced the top of its head, and because of the roar of the sword master, it scared him I had to fall from a five-meter plank and lay in bed for a week afterwards.

At that time, except for his misty eyes, he was no different from an ordinary half-elf child.

Brian thought he had forgotten these things long ago, who would have thought that these past events would always flash in his mind uncontrollably.

With the sound of falling rain on leaf tips and the sound of horseshoes walking in the mud, he entered the dense forest without haste.

His whole body was soaked, and the bone-chilling chill was gradually spreading to his whole body like a plague, which made him realize that he must find a place with a fire to rest tonight, if he could eat some hot food to wash himself A hot bath and a good night's sleep would be the best thing.

Thinking of this, Brian touched the bean-sized rainwater on his face, pulled off the already soaked hood, then retracted his thoughts that had drifted to nowhere, and carefully looked at the surrounding environment.

At this time, the sound of armor clanging, horse neighing and rain splashing on the muddy dirt road.

"Someone?" Hearing the noise, Brian stretched out his hand to hold the hilt of his sword, and drove his horse to the corner of the bushes beside the road.

Years of adventure have taught him one thing: being cautious at all times is absolutely beneficial.

Following the sound, he saw a group of people marching in a column coming towards him. They were fully armed and were noisily crossing a swollen stream.

When a group of people approached, Brian pulled the reins to let them go first. He saw that the flags held high by the knights at the front of the team were already soaked and hung down, making it hard to see clearly.

But the people who came were all wearing dark black cloaks and armor, with the black hippo emblem flying from their shoulders.

Knights of Deep Stream Harbor?Count Auxerre's men?
Brian recognized the team.

The main reason why he was able to recognize the identities of the group of people at a glance was that when he landed from the Moon Floating Sea in the northwest of the Kingdom of West, he stopped in Deep Stream Harbor for a while.

During this period, because he received a commission to clean up the ghosts in the sewer, he had a conflict with the youngest son of the Earl of Auxerre. The final result can be imagined, the youngest son of the Earl was killed by him, and he walked away.

Brian could even imagine the amount of reward Earl Oser secretly offered for himself as a mysterious murderer.

Looking at the hurrying people and horses, he naturally wouldn't think that they were coming for him.

Soon, he found the eldest son of Earl Auxerre in the team. The heir to the earl was surrounded by the knights, and the attendants followed behind.

Brian was not afraid of being recognized by the other party at all, because no one knew that he killed the earl's youngest son, which was why he looked at this group of people unscrupulously.

Seeing the direction in which these people were heading, a trace of confusion appeared in his heart.

During his travels to the elf sanctuary in the southeast of the Kingdom of West, he was always able to meet knights and freeriders from various families in the northern region of the kingdom, and even bards and adventurers with harps or lutes .

The purpose of most people is the same as his, to cross the Grimry River and walk southeast along the Griffin Mountains.

In Brian's impression, West, the southeast of the northern border of the Griffin Kingdom, has no other places to go except Blackman, which is occupied by elves.

This made him faintly smell something bad.

Earl d'Orcelle's eldest son simply nodded to Brian as he passed by.

Not surprised, Brian simply returned a salute.

This is not to say that the other party knows him, in fact, the two have not even spoken.

This is just the basic courtesy of noble gentlemen when they meet strangers on the road, or to refresh their sense of existence and superiority.

To those piercing eyes, Brian was nothing more than a wet, tired, mud-splattered traveler, and it never occurred to him that Brian was the murderer of his brother.

It took a long time for a group of knights to disappear before Brian continued on.

If there is no problem with his memory, as long as he walks east along the Grimre River, he will soon find a small town on the border of the Kingdom of West.

Brian remembered a dwarven tavern in town called the Steel Hammer.

Ten years ago, he escaped from the kingdom of Tigrila, penniless and penniless, he recklessly broke into this tavern on a hungry and cold night.

The owner of the tavern is a mountain dwarf named Harzon Steelhammer who carries a wine bag day and night.

Hassoon always muttered that he could actually forge and was a good fighter.

Brian learned from the drinker that he was actually bragging. He was kicked out of the house because he didn't like blacksmithing and had no talent for fighting.

But as a dwarf, the drinking factor in his blood made him open a tavern, but he still put a sledgehammer in the most conspicuous position of the tavern.

What impressed Brian the most was that on that night of hunger and cold, the grumpy mountain dwarf Hasson Steelhammer cursed and said some vulgar words that insulted the elves, and at the same time gave himself a cup of hot water for free. of dark beer and a big plate of food.

For Brian, it was a timely help.

The bone-chilling chill pervaded his body along with his thoughts, making him miss the cheap dark beer of the dwarves again, and the refreshing feeling like a fire after drinking it, which made him involuntarily speed up his rush to the border town.

It was already dark when Brian arrived at the 'Steel Hammer' tavern.

This is a tavern full of rustic atmosphere. The owner painted a huge hammer on the signboard in front of the door with gray paint. If it weren't for the smell of wine emanating from inside, it would always make people feel that this is a blacksmith. shop.

The two-story tavern meant that accommodation could be provided. After stepping into the tavern, Brian found that there was a rough-made display stand on one side of the wall, with some seemingly inconspicuous gadgets on it.

On the bar counter, a big steel hammer stood out. The bearded dwarf next to the hammer was Hazon Steelhammer, the owner of the place. He still held the familiar lynx skin wine bag in his hand and took a sip or two from time to time.

The dwarf was a bit fatter than Brian remembered, and his hair and beard were a bit grayer. Fortunately, the two of them had not seen each other for nearly ten years, so he was not worried that the other party's drunken eyes would recognize him.

"There's only one room left, so I don't have a choice, half-elf." The dwarf said impatiently, taking another sip of his wine, "Beforehand, this room is next to the clock tower, and it will be very noisy, as you have seen , My place is already full, if you don’t want it, get out of here.”

"It's okay." Brian said nonchalantly, then put the money on the counter and prepared to walk towards the narrow and old stairs.

Hathorn Steelhammer, like most dwarves, doesn't like elves and half-elves, so if an elf or half-elf buys something from him and stays in the store, he will charge double the extra money and have a very bad attitude.

He knew this well.

"Wait a minute! Leave your shoes here." The steel hammer dwarf who took the money called to Brian: "Damn it! Are you going to step on the mud upstairs?"

Brian smiled helplessly, then took off his muddy boots and put them on the stairs.

"Brian, is that you?"

Just as he was about to go upstairs, a question came from among the noisy drinkers, which made him involuntarily stop the steps he had just raised.

(A simple map of Asno Continent was made in the comment area, you can take a look if you are interested.)
(End of this chapter)