Swords, magic, and martial arts

Rod found the cleanest-looking hotel and went in alone to negotiate the price for two rooms with the hotel owner before taking Aya inside.

The hotel only served the same food to each guest at fixed times. When they arrived, it was mealtime, and they were served onion soup and dark bread.

Aya seemed to notice that Rod didn't want to take her along when he was negotiating prices with others, so she didn't speak to Rod at all during dinner and went to her room to sleep alone after dinner.

After finishing his meal, Rod saw vendors outside pushing carts and hawking their wares. Looking at his tattered clothes, he decided to find a tailor to buy a new set.

It was already dark, but torches were hung along the roads of the town, making it easier for passersby to see.

Rod found a shop with a sign that looked like a pair of scissors and went inside. The tailor shop owner was about to close when he saw Rod come in and sat down again.

Rod's fur coat was tattered and dirty, even stained with blood. The tailor shop owner, a burly middle-aged woman, asked, "Do you want a custom-made coat, or do you want your old clothes repaired?"

"How much does it cost to have clothes made to order?" Rod asked.

"That depends on the fabric. We have cotton, wool, linen, and animal hide. If you're wealthy enough, we can even make velvet. I think animal hide would suit you well; it's inexpensive and quite durable," the seamstress said.

Rhodes also thought the animal hides were good. In the Nord Kingdom, where wild animal resources were abundant, even many minor nobles would choose to wear animal hide clothes, which were not only sturdy but also provided good warmth.

"How much does the animal hide cost exactly?" Rod asked again.

"Judging by your size, I can make you a deerskin suit for 15 silver coins, and a cowhide suit for 20 silver coins. There are other animal hides available, such as wolf hides, but they are more expensive," the seamstress said.

Frostwood Town is close to the forest, and there are more deer than cows, so clothes made from deer hides are cheaper than those made from cowhide, and cowhide can be processed into leather armor.

"Then let's go with the deerskin one," Rod said, choosing the cheapest option.

"You need to pay me a deposit of 5 silver coins first, and you can come back to collect it in three days. Now stand up, let me measure you."

……

After leaving the tailor shop, Rhodes went to the blacksmith shop to look at the armor, but he still couldn't afford it.

He probably had equipment worth tens of thousands of gold coins on any one of the three knights of the Radiant Cross who were fighting alongside them, but their equipment was probably made by people within their own knightly order, so it was probably much cheaper.

Back at the inn, Rhodes asked the innkeeper if he could take a bath there. The innkeeper regretfully told him no, but he told Rhodes that there was a natural hot spring in town where he could bathe if he wanted, but the lord had arranged for someone to collect money there.

Rod looked at his injuries and decided to wait until they were better before taking a shower. He asked the hotel owner for some hot water and went back to his room to wipe off the bloodstains and the Black Jade Bone-Mending Ointment, which had lost its effectiveness.

Afterwards, Rhodes sat on the bed and began to practice the Divine Illumination Technique. He summarized that he was able to kill a wolf with one punch and even kill a mercenary with one punch. In addition to the reason that he drew the Finger Knuckle and Taizu Long Fist from the system store, he also relied on the Divine Illumination Technique to comprehensively enhance his physical qualities and greatly increase his strength.

The description of Shenzhaogong mentions that it can comprehensively enhance physical fitness, but because the increase was not significant before, he had forgotten about this function.

Just as Rhodes was immersed in the practice of the Divine Illumination Technique, a loud horn sounded outside, startling him awake.

What happened? Can't a person get some sleep?

He picked up his longsword, pushed open the door, and went out. Just then, a tenant from the room next to his also came out.

"What happened?" Rod asked.

The man shook his head and remained silent. Judging from his attire, he was likely a mercenary from the Anu royal court, wearing an earth-yellow robe, a traditional wool hat of nomadic tribes, and a sharp scimitar at his waist.

Rod ran to Aya's room and found her already standing there.

"All men who can wield a sword, gather in the square!" someone shouted from outside. Then, screams of agony came from outside the house, both human and animal.

Upon hearing this, Rod prepared to go downstairs to see what was going on, but Aya stopped him from going.

"What's wrong?" Rod asked.

"I'm scared to be alone," Aya replied softly.

"Then you'll come with me." Rod pulled Aya down the stairs.

The hotel's first floor was crowded but quiet. Two burly men blocked the door, and something outside seemed to be frantically banging on it. Everyone had their weapons in hand and were watching the door warily.

"What happened? Didn't we just say we were going to meet in the square?" Rod asked in a low voice to a middle-aged man with long hair and a melancholy look next to him.

"I don't know why, but the wild beasts in the forest have gone mad and come to the town. The garrison captain originally wanted to gather all the men in the square to fight off the beasts... before he was torn in two by a forest troll," the melancholy man said, trembling. "We'll all die here."

The innkeeper, who was sitting at the table next to me drinking, said calmly, "These are all minor incidents. Every few years, around springtime, many wild animals come to the town to attack humans. I've seen it countless times."

Rod felt a little more at ease after hearing what the innkeeper said.

However, the innkeeper then added, "If I were you, I would sit down and have one last drink. There are two forest trolls outside our door, and the people in our room are definitely doomed."

Rhodes glanced around and realized that there weren't many reliable people around him. Apart from the mercenary from the Anu Royal Court and the two burly men blocking the door, the rest were young adventurers around his age and a melancholy middle-aged man with long hair hiding at the back.

The young adventurers, upon hearing of the trolls outside, could barely hold their weapons.

"Why are most of the people in your hotel young?" the melancholy middle-aged man asked the hotel owner.

The innkeeper chuckled. "Young people and foreigners are the easiest to swindle. Experienced adventurers wouldn't stay in a clean-looking inn like mine. It's clean only because it's too expensive and hardly anyone stays there. The real inns are always full of adventurers, so how could they stay clean?"

After hearing this, Rod felt that he had learned something new.

"Aren't there two burly men at the door?" the melancholy middle-aged man asked.

"They came in after seeing the trolls, just like you," the innkeeper replied. As soon as he finished speaking, a large, hairy hand reached in through the wooden door. The two burly men who had been blocking the door gave up and ran behind the door to wait for them.

With a loud "crack," the fairly sturdy wooden door was ripped open by the owner of the hand, and two trolls crawled into the house, roaring angrily...