Swords, magic, and martial arts

Miles is a bard from the Kingdom of Fish. Bards are rare in the Kingdom of Nords, so he is very popular wherever he goes.

Spring arrived, and he left Ebony City, where he had spent the entire winter. As the weather grew warmer, he decided to head north to experience the local customs and culture of northern Nord.

He carried his lute along the abandoned King's Road. Although it was called King's Road, it was built by the ancient Nord kings thousands of years ago. Over the years, the road has been abandoned and few people walk on it.

Ordinary caravans and travelers would not take this ancient road, which was infested with wild animals and muddy, but instead choose the new road paved with bluestone by the Foss family decades ago.

Miles carried a lute on his back, his hand resting on the dagger at his waist. He had been tricked into coming to this abandoned ancient road by a group of adventurers; otherwise, he would have definitely chosen the bustling Forth Avenue.

He remembered asking the adventurers in the tavern for directions, and they all smiled and told him to head north along King's Road.

"If I hadn't been drunk, my cleverness wouldn't have allowed me to be fooled by those foolish adventurers," Miles thought to himself.

As he walked, he noticed that many of the trees on one side of the road had been broken in half, and there was scorched earth on the ground left by flames.

He stopped, feeling a sudden inspiration. In his mind, he had already imagined a battle between a mage and a troll.

A beautiful noblewoman was out for a stroll when she was attacked by a forest troll. A handsome young mage happened to pass by and fought a fierce battle with the troll. The troll broke trees and the mage scorched the land. In the end, the mage killed the troll and fell in love with the noblewoman...

No, this story is too bland. The noble lady is already engaged to a knight, and for love, a mage who has loved her since childhood duels with the knight, and in the end…

Just as the young bard was staring blankly at a pile of ashes from burned trees, a charred hand reached out from the ashes, startling him so much that he almost screamed.

Miles examined the hand closely and thought it looked like a human's. He went over and shoved away the ashes, only to find a bald, emaciated man inside.

He put his finger to the bald man's nostrils and found that he was still breathing. Miles then pulled him out of the ashes.

Looking at the bald man, Miles was in a dilemma, not knowing what to do. He had encountered such a dying person in the wild, and he wanted to pretend he hadn't seen him, but he felt uneasy about doing so.

But if I let it go, it will cause a lot of trouble, and I might not be able to return from the north of Nord before winter.

After hesitating for a while, Miles decided that he couldn't just let him fend for himself; he had to at least bring him back to the city. Although he didn't believe in God, he couldn't live with himself if he did nothing.

He took out his water bag and poured several mouthfuls of water into the gaunt, bald man's mouth, which the man drank all of. He slung his lute over his chest, hoisted the man onto his back, and turned to walk towards Ebony City. He found that the man was much lighter than he had expected, but his body was burning hot. For a bard like him who hadn't trained much, walking back to Ebony City would still be quite difficult.

Miles was stopped by the guards at the city gate when he carried the gaunt man into the city.

"What's going on with this person?" the guard asked.

Miles recognized the guard; he had even paid for a song for him.

He thought for a moment and decided there was nothing to hide, so he told the guard the truth: "I found him in the wild. He was dying, so I thought I'd bring him into the city. Maybe he can be saved."

"Don't waste your time and money. If you bring him into the city, you'll soon have to send him to the Hall of the Dead," the guard kindly advised.

Miles wavered. He didn't have much money on him, and after the guard told him that, he began to hesitate again.

In the end, he shook his head. "I think I should still give it a try. I'm afraid that one day I'll collapse in the wilderness and no one will save me, and I'll eventually die in despair."

The guards stopped him and let him enter the city directly.

After entering the city, Miles headed towards the tavern. He couldn't afford a real doctor, so he pinned his hopes on adventurers who knew a little about everything. He remembered meeting an adventurer who claimed to be very good at healing, I think his name was "The Seamstress" or something like that.

After he entered the tavern, a bald Nord carrying a giant axe stared at him, making him feel a little uneasy. He had seen strong adventurers before, but this bald man gave him a completely different feeling.

The bald adventurer put down his wine glass and charged at him, knocking over several benches and the adventurers sitting on them in the process. The adventurers were about to get angry, but after seeing that it was him who had caused the collision, they all fell silent.

Miles was startled and took a few steps back, wondering if something had happened between him and his wife. Instead of punching him as he expected, the bald adventurer stared at the emaciated, dying bald man on Miles' back.

"Is he still alive?" the adventurer carrying the giant axe asked in a trembling voice.

Miles nodded and replied, "He's alive for now, but who knows what will happen later."

The adventurer carrying the giant axe gently lifted the person off his back and placed him on the long bench.

Another burly adventurer carrying a warhammer approached and said, "Quickly take him to the castle. I know Lord Frost well; he'll surely send his best physicians to treat him."

Upon hearing his words, the adventurer carrying the giant axe lifted the gaunt man on the bench and ran towards the castle.

The adventurer carrying the warhammer and another short adventurer with a short sword at his waist followed.

"You're coming with us," the short man with a short sword at his waist said, turning to Miles.

Miles hesitated for a moment before following after him.

The adventurer carrying the warhammer tried to enter but was stopped by the guards. The captain of the guards arrived, smiled at him, exchanged a few pleasantries, and let him into the castle.

This was Miles' first time entering the castle of a nobleman in the Kingdom of Nord. He had previously played songs for nobles in the castles of other countries.

He looked around as he went, carefully observing how the castles of the Kingdom of Nord differed from those of other countries.

Miles felt that apart from being older and taller than the castles he had visited before, this Nord castle didn't look much different from them.

Whether it was because Winterfell Province was close to the Roman Empire and was influenced by it or something else, Miles felt that the decorations inside were very similar to a Roman Empire castle he had visited before.

He carefully followed the three adventurers across the velvet carpet, afraid that his dirty feet would leave footprints that would incur the wrath of the castle's inhabitants.

The servants, however, paid no attention to this.

"That's so extravagant! They even use velvet for carpets, and they don't even care if they get them dirty," Miles thought to himself.

The adventurer carrying a warhammer led them skillfully to the castle stairs. After they reached the top, he turned and said, "I'll go and say hello to Marquis Foss. You take them directly to the third floor, turn left, and stay in the third room. The best physician in Ebony City lives there."

The man carrying the giant axe nodded, then ran towards the third floor with the person Miles had found earlier in his arms...