Swords, magic, and martial arts

The guards at Winterfell Fortress looked at Rhodes, who was dragging the dragonman's corpse, with curiosity and asked, "What kind of monster's corpse is this? It looks very dangerous."

"This is a dragonman," Rhodes replied.

With the guards looking at him with shock and admiration, Rhodes walked through the city gate.

He dragged the dragonman's corpse all the way to the entrance of a tavern, where he stopped an adventurer and asked, "Excuse me, where in Winterfell can I dispose of a dragonman's corpse?"

The adventurer stared wide-eyed in disbelief, touching the dragonman's corpse before stammering, "This...this is a dragonman?"

"Come out and see! There's a dragonman's corpse here!" the adventurer shouted into the tavern.

Most Nord adventurers today have never seen ancient creatures like dragons and dragonmen; only a very small number have ever seen wyverns.

The adventurers inside came out after hearing the noise and began touching the dragonman corpse in front of Rhode...

Rhodes sat in the tavern eating the roasted lamb and chicken and onion soup that the tavern owner had given him.

Now he has an additional nickname, "Dragon Slayer." Dragons have almost completely disappeared from the continent, and in legends, many dragonmen are even stronger than dragons. Rhodes, who dragged the corpses of dragonmen to Winterfell, has earned this glorious title.

The dragonman's corpse was sold to a master blacksmith in the city. After collecting for a long time, he finally obtained the high-grade materials he wanted from Rhodes. He not only gave Rhodes a thousand gold coins, but also promised to make him a set of dragon scale armor for free.

Looking at the bulging bag of a thousand gold coins, Rhodes felt a pang of heartache for the corpse he had left behind when he first killed that dragonman.

"Is this the dragonman that attacked Ebony City?" asked an adventurer sitting next to Rhodes.

What happened while I was unconscious? I remember that the dragonman buried me under a log, then lit the log, and after that, I remember nothing but flames…

Rhodes had noticed earlier that there were no burn marks on his body, and even his hair was still growing on his head, though it felt like it was newly grown.

Did the dragons go on a killing spree in Ebony City after killing Aya?

The thought of Aya's death saddened Rod. No matter how angry and resentful he was at the time, he couldn't change the outcome of the battle.

A voice rose from the depths of his heart: If only I had accepted that dragon man's conditions back then, since the end result would have been the same anyway, I might as well have suffered less...

The sound only disappeared after Rod shook his head heavily.

"I don't know. When I found it, it was almost dead, and then I ended it," Rod replied.

He was embarrassed to admit that he didn't kill the dragonman, but he did kill it once.

"I think it's possible, after all, dragonmen are not common these days. This dragonman is really powerful. It is said that it almost turned the entire Ebony City to ashes. No one can last more than three seconds in front of it. Even the Marquis of Foss, who was incredibly brave in his youth, had one of his arms torn off by it," the adventurer said.

"So what happened in the end?" Rod asked curiously.

"Baron, the 'Savior of Ebony City' and the 'Burning Giant Axe,' severely injured the dragonman and saved the entire city," the adventurer said, taking a sip of his drink. "It is said that after seeing half the city engulfed in flames, he wept bitterly, channeling all his anger into his axe, and with one blow, he severely wounded the dragonman, nearly splitting it in two. In the end, the dragonman escaped in a sorry state using only its wings."

"Is Baron injured?" Rod asked quickly.

"No, he's in Winterfell fortress right now, staying at a tavern on the next street," the adventurer said.

After confirming the exact location, Rhodes focused on his meal. After finishing, he found the tavern owner and asked, "How much was this meal?"

The tavern owner said in surprise, "This meal was my treat, why are you paying me?"

"I won't be staying here for the next few days, so I'll pay for your meals instead," Rod said, scratching his head sheepishly.

"No, no, I already said it's an invitation to eat. Even if you don't live here, I can't take your money," the tavern owner quickly waved his hand and said. "Besides, a dragon slayer once stayed in my tavern, so I can tell your story to my grandson in the future."

Rhodes felt really bad after hearing what the tavern owner said, so he left a gold coin and ran out, even though the meal was far more expensive than that one gold coin.

Following the advice of the adventurer, Rhodes found the tavern and went inside. There he saw Hammer and Webber sitting at a table eating.

"Where's Baron?" Rod asked them.

Weber and Hammer heard the familiar voice, looked up, stared at him in disbelief, and said, "You're alright."

Rhodes was unaware that they had encountered him while he was unconscious. The last time he saw them was in the High Mountain Province, after which he was teleported away and his spatial ring was stolen.

"I'm fine, except my spatial ring was stolen," Rhodes replied.

"You don't know, the last time we saw you, you were unconscious, covered in burns, and so thin you were barely recognizable as human," Weber said. "Now, you don't have any burns, and although you've lost a lot of weight, you look much healthier than the last time we saw you."

Rhodes, unaware of what had happened while he was unconscious, said, "I was indeed unconscious for a while. When I woke up, I found myself in a cave next to this fortress. Where is Baron?"

"He's resting upstairs," Weber replied. "We'll take you to see him."

Weber knocked on Baron's door, and Baron opened it. He was much thinner than before, with dark circles under his eyes. When Baron saw Rhodes, his eyes reddened, and he opened his arms to hug Rhodes. "Thank goodness you're not dead."

Rhodes, feeling somewhat awkward being hugged by Baron, asked, "Has your curse been lifted?"

Baron released Rhodes. "It's resolved. We found you being carried by a bard in Ebony City. Later, Hammer asked Marquis Forth to find someone to heal you; he was Marquis Forth's adopted son. At that time, the curse was about to expire, so Weber and I went to that temple, and after smashing a statue, the curse was lifted."

Baron paused for a moment and then continued, "After that, we returned to Ebony City. From a great distance, we could see the city ablaze. When we ran back, we found that the beast had turned most of the castle, including the place where you were staying, into a sea of ​​fire..."

After hearing Baron's words, Rod told him about what had happened before he woke up, and also about the man in black, but omitted anything related to the system.

"Do you know who that man in black is?" Rod asked.

Baron paused for a moment, then shook his head. Webber, standing beside him, asked, "You said he has a transparent sword and a bronze mask?"

Rhodes nodded and added, "The eye positions on the bronze mask are two red gems, not two holes to make two eyes visible."

Webber lowered his voice and said, "I think he must be the legendary King of Assassins..."

……