Warriors will die if they charge.

"She couldn't possibly be a water druid, that's too silly."

Faced with the curved blade pressed against her neck, Jenny's initially fearful expression transformed into a fierce, aggressive one upon hearing Marcus's assessment:

"You're the idiot! Your whole family are idiots! Who would see a snake-man with their own eyes and then argue that it was a water druid?"

After her angry and embarrassed retort, she buried her head in her shoulder-length, golden hair, carefully observing the cold-eyed Trish, her hand involuntarily gripping the sharp blade in front of her neck:

"Um, are you a mixed-race Drow? I rarely see you around in the south. I thought you only stayed in Silver Mountain City."

Trish paused for a moment, then slowly lowered the knife in her hand, seemingly surprised by Jenny's words.

"A mixed-race drow, Silver Mountain City? You mean there are mixed-race people like me living in Silver Mountain City?"

Impossible, Triss. You've been able to live in the Underdark for nearly fifty years only because the Matriarch coveted the powerful bloodline your father possessed, and used all sorts of lies to conceal your true identity from the outside world. It was only because of the value you demonstrated that you've managed to barely survive until now.

Half-dragons could not survive in the Underdark; their sole purpose in being born was to be sacrificed to the goddess Lolth along with their parents.

She mentally refuted Jenny's words, but the curved knife she had already lowered was now pressed against the girl's fair throat again, her cold, beautiful face filled with murderous intent.

"say!"

"Yes, that's how it is, Silver Mountain City..." Jenny was so frightened by Trish's murderous intent that she didn't dare to speak. She leaned against the wall, clutching the hem of her clothes, trembling all over.

"Alright, Trish, stop scaring this girl. She just lost a loved one, so we need to show her respect."

Marcus held down the drow's scimitar and asked Jenny in a kind tone, "Let's talk about the half-drow first."

"In Silver Mountain City, there's an elven society called the Carter's Society, whose motto is that all elves are of the same race. I've inadvertently come into contact with some of them, and a few of them are like this..." Jenny swallowed, gazing at the stunningly beautiful Trissy:

"The young lady is very similar, possessing some characteristics of a drow: pointed ears, grayish-white skin, silver hair, and red eyes, completely different from a normal half-elf."

"Carter's..." Trish repeated the unfamiliar word several times in a low voice, then stepped aside and stared blankly at the scenery outside the window.

A strange sense of loneliness welled up in her silhouette.

Seeing that the most threatening woman, Trish, had given up on pressing the issue, Jenny turned to Marcus, whose composed demeanor was completely different from his earlier thug-like appearance, and repeated herself with extreme dissatisfaction:

"I'm really not a snake-man."

"It's a water druid, you fool." Marcus corrected Jenny again, glancing around the hall.

"The situation is complicated now. Let's assume the snake people... cough cough, the water druids. You say these ugly creatures generally live in the Volad Swamp, thousands of kilometers from the Nileka River, but the Riverside Forest is the territory of the Water Queen. Are they preparing for a great war?"

"I don't know." Jenny shook her head, gazing at the snake-man's corpse in the center of the hall, which was already growing cold, and clenched her small fists.

"We know very little about the snake people, except that they can easily disguise themselves as humans to live in the city, worship a terrible evil god, and use strange witchcraft."

Bardin suddenly interjected, "Can they really disguise themselves as dwarves? Damn it, they'd definitely be skinny dwarves, haha."

"In the current records, there are no cases of snake people disguising themselves as dwarves or halflings..." Jenny, who was explaining, suddenly turned pale. She stared at the open window of the hall with fear, lowering her trembling voice:

"The last dwarf master in the camp smashed his own head with a hammer... It's very possible that the eighty-seven adventurers hiding in the houses and tents were all snake people in disguise."

"It can't be that bad," Marcus said, scratching the back of his head as he recalled the scene at the makeshift dock.

The haste and fear of those two-legged mules running are not something a cold-hearted water druid can fake.

If the camp is full of water druids, why keep Jenny alive? As a pet to cheer you up, even though she does look kind of cute.

The fact that no second snake-man appeared during the fight with the snake-man disguised as the supervisor suggests that they must also be wary of something.

Anyone who dares to venture into the Linhe Forest is no novice; the environment here is far more complex than the forests near the town, and there are many powerful wild beasts.

If you really have to take a hard line, the snake people who use underhanded tricks and poisonous fog are not necessarily a match for you.

"Let's go see what that 'water ghost' is doing in the house. He's disguised as a union leader, he's definitely trying to get something through this channel."

"Water ghost, snake man?" Jenny felt like she and Marcus were on different wavelengths. He knew the difference between snake man and water ghost, but he still insisted on saving face and said some nonsense.

"Dwarf brother, you and Trissy keep watch. Don't drink too much beer, or your bladders will get blocked and affect the battle."

Marcus dragged the trembling Jenny up the dilapidated staircase from the chaotic hall.

She frowned, still pondering the matter of the snake people, and pointed to the wooden door at the end of the corridor: "That's the supervisor's room."

"Wasn't he your uncle? He became the supervisor as soon as he died? City people are so cold-hearted, aren't they?"

"I'm a mage apprentice doing an internship to earn credits. I've only known Habakak for two months, and we're not related by blood!"

The soldier smiled and kicked open the tightly closed door.

The room was completely covered by curtains, making it dimly lit and stuffy. Basins of water were placed in the corner, and the humidity was even higher than outside after a rain.

The bed was very tidy, with almost no signs of use. On the wooden table in front of the window, there were some papers and books.

Jenny observed for a while, then nodded and said:

"Snake people like damp places, so this might be a clue to follow: who lives in a place that is more humid than normal?"

"I have a way to find them, just remember to pay me." Marcus strode into the bedroom, seemingly unconcerned about any magical traps that might lurk in the shadows.

"I'll discuss it with Howell and use the union's funds as payment, provided you catch the snake man." Jenny didn't step into the room, cautiously observing every possible danger.

She actually lived with a snake-man for two months without even suspecting anything. Was the monster's disguise too good, or was her vigilance too low...?

Marcus walked to the table and fiddled with the papers covered in dense black lines. These were topographical maps of the Riverside Forest, and in terms of coverage, they were much higher than the maps drawn by the Adventurers' Guild.

What are they looking for?

On the back of the paper were some strange pictographic characters; he glanced at them, and they looked like a snake's tail writhing wildly—

can't read.

I searched through the desk, but apart from the text on the back of the map, the snake man left almost no trace.

No... they must have left something behind.

Marcus held a map with the largest coverage area, looked up, and saw the curtains tightly covered by a black curtain.

The curtains were drawn back with a whoosh.

A golden halo descended from the sun into the damp room, and the rosy glow of the sunset dyed the forest a deep green.

He stretched out a 1.2-meter-long map with both hands, held it up in front of him, and aimed it at the relentless blazing sun that was spreading its rays.

As the setting sun slowly sank into the horizon, the sunrise, like an agave, rose from the rough papyrus bottom, crossing the black horizon and pale starlight, hanging on the dome of the map—transforming into a golden scale.

Marcus rolled up the map and put it away, then turned to leave.

Golden scales...

It seems the snake people are also looking for this thing; things are getting even more interesting.