I can evolve everything

The Kingdom of Orland is an ancient kingdom with a vast territory.

Its territory resembles a giant eagle perched on the western coast of the continent, with the rich and warm Gold Coast to the south, where wine and silk are produced; and in the middle, a fertile plain where the capital is located.

Meanwhile, Renn and his group were located in the northernmost part of the kingdom—the Cold Iron Province.

This is the edge of the civilized world, and also the kingdom's strong shield.

The terrain of the province gradually rises from south to north. After crossing the Mirror Lake Plain where Sunset City is located, there are rolling gray stone hills and coniferous forests.

Beyond the border further north lies the northern wilderness, known as the "forbidden zone of civilization," a paradise for orcs, exiles, and all sorts of monsters.

It's been a week since I left Sunset City.

During this week, Ryan truly experienced what it means to travel.

Aside from my daily workouts, I spent most of this week constantly traveling.

They traveled north along the long-neglected road, the scenery changing from neat farmland to desolate meadows.

Karen is indeed a very approachable knight.

In his spare time, he would teach Ryan and Ella a lot of useful knowledge, such as how to judge the strength of a horse's legs, or how to split wet wood to start a fire in the least strenuous way.

But Ryan also noticed that the seemingly relaxed old knight's gaze never left his surroundings.

His hand was always at the point closest to the hilt of the sword.

The afternoon of the seventh day.

Karen and her two companions arrived at a desolate three-way intersection.

In the middle of the intersection stood a huge oak tree that had long since died, its bare branches forking out and reaching towards the sky.

On that branch hung three black objects, swaying gently in the wind.

"That is..." Ella reined in her horse and squinted.

Those were three corpses.

Although the corpses had been dried and were somewhat deformed, several black crows were perched on their shoulders, pecking at something. Hearing the sound of hooves, they cawed and took flight, circling in the air and refusing to leave, seemingly waiting for the passersby to leave so they could continue their feast.

Karen's relaxed expression vanished instantly.

He spurred his horse to approach slowly, his cloudy eyes instantly sharpening. The imposing aura of a formal knight of the "Dawn Sword" knightly order made his warhorse tremble with unease.

"Go take a look," Karen said in a deep voice.

This was the first time Renn had ever seen a corpse since he came from another world, and it was a corpse that had been gnawed to pieces by crows and was almost rotting.

He felt a little nauseous, but still slowly spurred his horse to follow Karen.

As they drew closer, the stench of decay emanating from the corpse assaulted their senses.

The three corpses had all been stripped of their outer clothing, leaving only tattered inner garments.

The three men died in a disturbing manner, with obvious knife wounds on their bodies, and the blood on their inner linings had long since congealed into a dark brown color.

"This is lynching." Ryan frowned, examining the ligature marks on the corpses' necks. "They were killed first, and then hung up for public display."

"And it wasn't killed by an ordinary person." Ella pointed to a wound on the chest of one of the corpses:

"A sword pierced through the heart without even breaking the ribs. Such precision requires at least several years of sword training to achieve."

Karen didn't speak. He circled the withered tree, his gaze sweeping over the soil on the ground.

"This is on the territory of the Kingdom of Orland." As a knight, Karen's voice was deep. "Whoever died, whoever killed them, to hang their bodies at the crossroads is a provocation against the law."

He looked up and gazed at the path to his right.

"There's smoke over there. There should be a village there. Let's go ask."

A knight's duty is not only to kill enemies, but also to maintain order.

Now that she'd encountered it, Karen couldn't simply ignore it.

This is probably the stubborn side that Linus was referring to.

After walking less than two kilometers along the path, a dilapidated little village came into view.

The village is small, with only about a dozen households.

The houses were mostly built of mud and thatch, and were low and damp.

There were no guards at the village entrance, only a few stray dogs scratching for food in the mud.

Upon seeing the three fully armed knights appear, the children who had been playing at the village entrance immediately screamed and ran away.

Immediately afterwards, a flurry of doors and windows slamming shut filled the air.

This is an instinctive fear.

In this world, which, aside from various supernatural powers, is close to the Middle Ages for ordinary people, for farmers in remote villages, fully armed strangers, whether bandits or knights of lords, often mean trouble.

Karen stopped beside a well at the entrance of the village.

"Is anyone there?" He didn't dismount, but shouted loudly, "We are travelers passing by and would like to ask for a drink of water."

There was no response. All the windows were tightly shut, and only through the cracks could one see pairs of terrified eyes peering in.

Karen sighed, untied a leather pouch from beside the saddle, took out a handful of copper coins, and casually scattered them on the stone platform beside the well. The coins struck the stone with a crisp sound.

"We are knights, we obey the law, and we pay our dues."

In the Kingdom of Orland, most knights are already considered kind and approachable superhumans by ordinary people, so Karen's tactic worked.

After a moment, a wooden door was slowly pushed open. An elderly man leaning on a cane walked out timidly.

He looks like the village chief or an elder here.

The old man walked shakily to the well, didn't even look at the copper coins, and knelt down on the muddy ground, kowtowing to Karen.

"Sir...we've already paid our taxes for this year...we really have no food left..."

"Get up." Karen frowned, dismounted, and tried to appear less aggressive. "I'm not a tax collector, nor am I here to collect taxes."

He pointed in the direction outside the village, his tone serious:

"I'm a passing knight. I saw three corpses in that dead tree at the crossroads. What happened?"

Upon hearing the word "corpse," the old man's body visibly trembled.

But when he looked up, a strange light flickered in his cloudy eyes, as if he had heard something good.

"Sir Knight...those...those aren't good people."

The old man swallowed hard, seemingly organizing his thoughts, or perhaps trying to ascertain whether the knight before him was trustworthy.

"They...they are robbers from the 'Black Dog Gang'."

"Robbers?" Karen raised an eyebrow. "If they were robbers, why were they stripped naked and hung in a tree? Who did it?"

"It was...it was an adult who passed by a couple of days ago," the old man stammered. "Those three beasts rushed into the village a few days ago, stole Old John's sheep, and even tried to rape Miller's daughter. But...but they just happened to run into an adult who was passing by."

"That sir only used one sword, a few swift strokes, and those three beasts were dead." The old man gestured, his tone unconsciously tinged with a hint of admiration and a touch of annoyance:

"Then the lord said that their armor should be stripped off, saying that these scum did not deserve to wear armor. Then he told us to hang the corpses at the crossroads to scare away the other bandits."

Ryan and Ella exchanged a glance.

Strip away the armor?

In this era when iron was expensive, a set of leather armor, or even leather armor inlaid with iron, was a form of hard currency.

The most valuable items a robber usually owns are his weapons and armor.

"What did that person look like?" Renn couldn't help but ask. "Was he also a knight?"