Swords, magic, and martial arts

"My name is Martin, what's yours?" the melancholy middle-aged man asked Rod on the street.

"Rhodes," Rhodes replied, observing his surroundings as he walked. The mountains of corpses that had previously piled up had all been removed. If the casualties among the people of the territory were disregarded, the Foss family could make a small fortune just from the carcasses of those wild beasts.

As far as Rhodes knew, troll fat was very valuable, serving as both a material for refining gold and a delicacy favored by Nord nobles. Rhodes, who was always short of money, felt it was a pity.

Martin nodded and said, "This task is relatively simple. We just need to find the entrance to the tomb in the forest. As long as we're not too unlucky, we shouldn't encounter any problems."

Rhodes wanted to roll his eyes at him. This was easy? So many adventurers had been searching for it for hundreds of years and still hadn't found it. How many people in this town were left to search? He had never liked Martin before, and now he thought he was even more stupid.

He only came to sign up incidentally; his main purpose was to go into the forest and kill those dangerous wild beasts.

This world is completely different from the world before I transmigrated. In the world before I transmigrated, animals were protected and forbidden from being hunted by humans. In this world, however, many animals pose a threat to human lives. The Kingdom of Nord even encourages its people to hunt because if there are too many ferocious beasts, they will attack humans living in nearby areas.

In particular, some animals with little intelligence are not afraid of humans at all, such as trolls. Trolls often attack humans, and even a single troll dares to attack a human city.

This is probably the main reason why the nobles of the Kingdom of Nord allow commoners to hunt.

"Lord Fors promised that anyone who participated would receive a gold coin, and whoever found the tomb would receive a hundred gold coins," Martin added.

Martin led Rhodes to a small square where a man dressed as a clerk sat on a table on a high platform. Several adventurers were registering in front of him. Martin and Rhodes went up to him.

"Look, isn't this 'Coward' Martin? How can someone like him find companions again?" one of the adventurers shouted.

"Young man, don't be fooled by him. He never cares about his companions' lives and always runs away when there's danger," another adventurer kindly warned.

Rhodes almost blushed when he heard this, as it reminded him of himself when he first transmigrated.

"I never planned to go with him. I've always been prepared to go alone," Rhodes explained. He never intended to team up with Martin from the beginning. He wanted to go into the forest to fight the trolls to complete the mission, and Martin would definitely die innocently if he were by his side.

"Well, I wasn't really planning on going into the forest anyway, I just brought him here to register," Martin said loudly.

Rhodes was a little surprised. Martin had said he wanted to team up with him before. Could it be that he's scared now?

"Martin, you'd better stay home. There are trolls and saber-toothed tigers in the forest. Be careful, or you might not come back," an adventurer chuckled.

Martin's expression changed upon hearing this, and he silently walked away.

Rhodes was somewhat speechless. He asked the crowd, "When does this mission require us to depart?"

"Tomorrow morning," one adventurer replied.

Rhodes also decided not to sign up. He hadn't had much rest lately, so he decided to rest for a while before going into the forest to complete the mission.

He turned and left, returning to the inn, where Aya came up to him after seeing him.

"Did you put my sword away yesterday?" Rod asked Aya.

Aya: "Oh no, I forgot. The soldiers took all the bodies away, but the sword should still be on there."

Rhodes was somewhat helpless; it seemed he would have to rely on his fists for the foreseeable future, though neither fists nor swords would do much damage to the trolls. As for dealing with wolves, a sword would be far better.

"How's that Nord doing?" Rhodes asked again.

"I don't know." Aya shook her head.

Rod looked at Aya, then sniffed himself, and frowned. "I think we both need to take a shower."

Aya sniffed herself, nodded, and said with a look of disgust, "I think so too."

However, having no clothes to change into after his shower made Rod feel a bit uncomfortable, so he took Aya to the tailor shop they had visited before. Fortunately, the tailor was also unharmed.

"You can pick up your clothes tomorrow afternoon." The seamstress glanced up at him, then lowered her head to continue what she was doing.

Upon hearing this, Aya turned to Rod and angrily said, "When did you start secretly buying clothes behind my back?"

Rhodes was somewhat exasperated. "Do I have to report to you when I buy clothes? Look at what I'm wearing now. The fur coat that Jon gave me before, which looked quite decent, is now like something a beggar would wear."

He recalled the beggars he had seen before and thought they were better dressed.

"If I had to blame someone, I'd only blame myself for not buying it for you," Rod thought to himself.

"Take her measurements and make her a dress, using better materials," Rod said to the seamstress.

"Spring is just around the corner, so you can choose some lighter fabrics. I suggest you buy her wool; I have some ready-made ones here that should fit her perfectly." The seamstress took out a beautifully woven gray wool coat and a pair of black wool riding breeches from the cabinet behind her.

"If you buy them together, I can also give you a dress to wear underneath," the seamstress added.

"How much will this cost in total?" Rod asked.

"One gold coin," said the seamstress.

Rhodes hesitated for a moment. After spending this gold coin, he didn't have much money left. He was about to ask if there was anything else.

Aya tugged at his hand and whispered, "We only have three gold coins in total. Staying at an inn will cost money, so don't buy me any more. I don't like it."

Aya said she didn't like it, but her eyes revealed a longing.

"I want it."

……

Afterwards, he went to the hot springs to take a bath, which cost Rhodes some more money. Now he has no gold coins left, only a few pitiful silver coins.

The innkeeper treated me to barbecue, but he might as well have just returned some of the money he swindled from me. It seems I have no choice but to accept the lord's employment. I'm leaving for the forest tomorrow, without even a day's rest.

It was already dark outside, but bright oil lamps were hanging around the hot spring pool. Rhodes looked at himself in the water and saw a scar on his forehead. The white flesh had grown out and it didn't seem to affect his appearance much. He had previously thought that the scar on his forehead would be as hideous as the one on Jon's face.

A large clump of his hair in the front had been chopped off with an axe by the mercenaries in the cabin, giving him a very sharp hairstyle now.

He used the razor next to the pool to shave himself into a decent-looking short haircut. He had practiced basic swordsmanship and was now quite skilled at using the razor.

After getting my hair cut, I look much better than before when my hair was messy and missing pieces.

His body was only sixteen years old, and he would be seventeen after summer. He didn't have a beard yet, and there was only a light layer of black down on his lips.

He looked at his body; the scars on his body were almost healed. His previously charred right hand had shed a layer of black shell, revealing a much whiter right hand underneath, and the dexterity of his right hand was not affected.

After taking a shower, Rod didn't want to put his dirty, tattered clothes back on. He took out a night suit from his system space and put it on, but without a hat or mask, he went out like that...