Traveling through The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

I didn't stay overnight in Helgen. After lunch, Lydia and I led the two girls to Falkreath. We were away for too long and too many things happened during this trip to Whiterun. I should report to Danger as soon as possible to avoid any problems with our mutual trust.

Bryce has recovered his strength and jumped around all the way, making Lydia a little annoyed. Without the two big Buddhas, Amulen and Rigel, we can't control this naughty child at all. Lucia followed me obediently. She said that Rhea did some simple tests for Bryce and concluded that she was suitable for martial arts, and then wrote a letter of introduction to Craster in Falkreath. The Red Guard said that Bryce must first accept Craster's guidance and complete basic combat training within three months, so that he is qualified to learn from her.

It only takes one day to get from Helgen to Falkreath at full speed, but we had to stay overnight in the pinewood watchtower with two children. The person in charge here is called Lorak. He was the farmer in Rigel's gang before. After Rigel was cleaned up and came ashore, he handed over the original base to this person.

Lorak showed me the current pinewood watchtower. Several new wooden houses were built on the farm for the tiger caravans or other merchants to rent. They planned to build more guest rooms and completely transform from agriculture to the service industry. Rigel's treasure room with many traps was used to store the goods deposited by the tiger caravans, and outside the treasure room, the small house where Rigel and I had our first honest conversation had been transformed into a reception room for registering and archiving the goods deposited and received.

"You should be familiar with these bone clocks. In the future, this room will store important documents, so security is very important. We plan to hire more people and strive to have two people on duty at the same time so that they can supervise each other. We have also dug a safe passage, but the location is confidential, so please forgive me for not being able to show you around."

Lorak casually introduced their layout, while I gently stroked the wall clocks, recalling my moments here. The operation of the Tiger Man Trading Post is part of my territory affairs, and Lorak's arrangements are reasonable. Lydia and the two little girls naturally couldn't guess that I was revisiting the old place, but they were just amazed at the huge scale and exquisite structure of the underground cave. After hearing that someone hired the Dark Brotherhood to assassinate me, Lydia really followed me everywhere except when I went to the toilet and slept, leaving me with no privacy at all. She cautiously explored the corners of the cave, as if she was worried that an assassin would ambush us.

Regarding this matter, I think the most suspicious person is Sidgal. Because Falkreath was occupied, the annual pension originally planned to be paid to him was stopped. This second-generation rich man definitely meets the conditions of hating me and having no money. But shouldn't he hate Rigal more? If he can contact the Dark Brotherhood, why would he want to kill me and choose to let Rigal go? Or are we both on the assassination list, but Rigal didn't tell me about his situation? Especially when she emphasized that my strength was too poor, didn't it mean that she was a martial arts expert and was not afraid of possible assassins?

But she is pregnant now!

And Rigel's status is higher than mine. Maybe Sidgel spent all his money on assassinating her, which is why the bounty left for me is not high? I cursed myself for being slow. I found the loophole only a day after I got the news. Today is less than four days away from the date of the alliance agreed by Lord Balgruuf. I can't go back to Rigel to ask for more information. I have to go back to see Danger first, and other things can be discussed later.

I didn't sleep well because I was full of worries. I saw Lai Mei patrolling outside the house several times while lying in bed, checking the door and windows. Since neither of us could sleep, I simply got dressed and accompanied her to enjoy the night view. Lai Mei thought she had woken me up and looked guilty. I felt sorry for her. She was obviously dedicated to her job, but she had to deal with a master who was difficult to serve. She suffered a lot these days. Lydia should have known that I was a civilian a few months ago, but she never showed contempt for me. She was also polite to Donna and was a girl with a good personality.

The night sky was exceptionally clear tonight, and the soft and gorgeous aurora was like a ribbon, gently wrapping the bright stars. Lydia had no intention of appreciating such a beautiful view. She walked around the house, carefully investigating the dark corners.

"This is the heart of Falkreath Territory. It's very safe. You don't need to be so nervous."

I patted the empty space beside me and motioned her to sit down. Although Lydia did not disobey, she drew out her long sword and placed it at her feet, and scanned the surroundings vigilantly.

"These stars are beautiful. I haven't had such a peaceful time looking at them in years. Can you tell me the story of the constellations?"

In my previous life, I rarely saw stars since I went to the city to make a living. In the early days, I could still vaguely distinguish Orion and the Big Dipper, but later, there were only dazzling neon lights and dim street lights. The constellations in the sky were completely different from those in my previous life, so I naturally couldn't understand them.

Lydia hugged her knees and looked at me in confusion. Perhaps she was curious about my ignorance, so she raised her hand to point to the area above her head.

"You must know that the guardian constellation of each month will appear in this position in the middle of the night sky. It will protect the children born in this month and determine their talents. This is the Lover's Constellation, the guardian constellation of the Rising Sun Month. People born in the Rising Sun Month are meticulous and intelligent. They are good at learning knowledge and skills in all aspects and can apply them to other areas. However, it is precisely because they learn everything quickly that they often stop at a superficial level and rarely delve deeply into one field."

I suddenly remembered that Eric said that Lund's birthday was in the month of sunrise, I think it was on the 14th, but I missed it and I didn't even bring him a gift.

"What about you? What's your ruling sign?"

"As for me, I was born in the last month of the year, and my guardian constellation is the warrior constellation. What about you, Baron?"

I nodded. Lydia was indeed an excellent fighter.

"My birthday is Sun High Moon."

"Then your lordship's ruling sign is the Apprentice sign? People born in the Sun's High Moon are very talented in magic. Have you ever considered going to Winterhold for further studies?"

I smiled and summoned the fire element.

"Look, even though I'm clumsy, I'm not a weakling without any fighting ability. So you can relax a little. With this little thing protecting me, we can both sleep peacefully, right?"

"My lord...I...don't think you are weak, but it is my duty to ensure your safety."

Lydia misunderstood my meaning and thought I was blaming her for looking down on others. But she agreed to take a good rest before dawn, after all, we still have to travel tomorrow. Lydia stood at the door of her bedroom, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn't.

"Lydia, look, I'm just a poor boy who got lucky. I don't understand the twists and turns of the nobles. If there are no outsiders present, you can just say what you want to say. There is no need for so many rules between you and me."

Lai Mei nodded.

"Sir, please try not to summon fire elements in the dark in the future. It will easily expose your position."

I think Lydia is a little too cautious. Even entering Falkreath did not let her down. The reconstruction work led by Nanya was very effective. In one month, 30% of the houses were built, and most of the businesses have started business. As for the nobles' land, only Tager and I are building houses. The land I was allocated is near the lumberyard, located in the northeast of the city. It is now surrounded by a simple wooden fence, and workers are busy inside.

Lund's plan was to build a two-story villa facing south and dig an artificial canal to bring the stream water from the nearby Howling Bastion Mountain into the courtyard. This design that combines movement and stillness is very appealing to me. Of course, Lund also pointed out the disadvantages of doing so in advance. First, it will be very expensive, and second, the construction period will be relatively long, but these are not problems for me. I originally planned to place Donna in the Dead Man's Wine Inn, but now it seems that the inn was only recently built. Varga and Nari are very busy, so it is better for Stein to stay in Helgen.

We first took Bryce to find Custer, a retired veteran of Falkreath who now helps the old elf Runel manage the operation of the cemetery. Riya did not contact her friends in the army, probably because she considered that Falkreath is under great pressure to defend itself and Bryce had no foundation, so she found a relatively idle non-staff member. The little devil got his first weapon in his life - a wooden sword, and he danced with excitement, swinging and slashing without any rules. I told Lucia to keep an eye on Bryce, and if there was anything, he could go to the inn to ask Valga for help.

I temporarily placed Lydia in the guest room of Howling Bastion. Her identity is a bit awkward. If Lydia entered the country as a diplomat from Whiterun, she would naturally enjoy the reception of the knight class. But her current identity is my attendant, and my position in Falkreath is just a knight, so I guess she can only be regarded as a child of a noble family like Sam and Stein, who has no noble status to inherit. The definition of these status levels seems boring to me, but old nobles like Danger attach great importance to it, and can even be said to treat it as a top priority. The old fox once glared at me because of the issue of Elisif's name, and I don't want to offend him again.

"Ah! My child, you have worked hard on this trip, but you can't rest today. Tagel has already captured the Sunshine Garden Fortress, and I think they should be back this afternoon. Let's meet with the Nanya steward in the evening to finalize the alliance with the Snowman leader."

Danger's desk was covered with documents, and there was an oil lamp on each corner of the table. The old fox pulled me to sit down with a smile on his face.

"I am old and my eyesight is blurry. Come on, read this to me. This Nanya steward is really an elf who doesn't know how to sympathize with us humans."

That was about the income and expenditure of the lumberyard in the past five days. Currently, the wood has three main uses: one is to build a simple wall to outline the area where we plan to build the city; the second is to build houses and furniture for the residents of Falkreath; the third is to build villas for Tagel and me. The first two items are nominally free, Nanya only listed the amount of wood consumed, and the third item also marked the sales income. Nanya's final report was that the lumberyard was still in a loss-making situation, so she did not recommend paying the one-fifth of the lumberyard income in the lord's annual pension.

Danger took the document, signed his "Agree", and picked up another one. The characters on this document were larger, and he squinted his eyes and tried to read it under the light. After reading it, he just shook his head and smiled bitterly. This time he didn't write anything, put the document aside, and looked up at me.

"You're not here to look over the documents with the old man, are you? You want to talk about the baron that Jarl Balgruuf gave you?"

I nodded. The old fox's smile grew even wider.

"If he's willing to give it to you, just take it. I'd do the same if I were you. You see, the situation in Whiterun is very bad right now, and the entire western territory is basically out of control. This town of Loristed is farther from Whiterun than from here. If we take it down first and the two sides form an alliance, can he take the land back? So he used a trick to grant you this territory. In this way, we would be embarrassed to transfer your fief to someone else, right? So, you are just a tool for him to formally keep his territory."

Danger pulled out another document with smaller handwriting and handed it to me.

"My child, you don't have to worry. If I doubted your loyalty, would I let you read this? You are willing to let your mother live in Falkreath, which is enough to prove your sincerity. I am old, but not senile. Lord Balgruuf's little trick, huh!"

I suddenly remembered that when Danger was still a lord, he once competed with Balgruuf for the Sunny Gardens Fortress and finally won. There are some grudges between these two old foxes. I wonder what fun will happen when they meet.

I accompanied Danger to read a few more documents, and then I saw Lucia running in in a panic.

"Lord Locke, please go and take a look! Bryce and Helgi are fighting!"