The Hero in Exile

At noon, Moran came to the tavern alone.

Creak! The old and dilapidated wooden door groaned in pain. Inside was the smallest and most shabby tavern Moran had ever seen. It was clearly noon, but there were few people here.

Although this place is very old, there is no dust because it is well maintained by the owner.

An old man with a white beard was standing at the front desk wiping a wooden cup. It seemed that he was the boss.

"Boss, two glasses of cold beer and a serving of beef jerky."

These can be regarded as fixed dishes in the pub. If Lingyu hadn't asked me to come, I would not have been willing to eat beef jerky or something for lunch.

The boss looked up at Moran, then put down his work and went to the kitchen to prepare.

I was sitting in front and had nothing to do, so I looked into the store. I realized that not only were there few people inside, but everyone inside was elderly. There was no young person at all.

"Your meal is ready."

The boss brought a portion of beef jerky and two glasses of beer. It is worth noting that there is yellow sauce on the beef jerky. The slightly hot sauce mixed with the beef jerky has a unique flavor.

"It's five silver coins in total."

This is quite cheap. Think about it, the food in that damn academy is not very delicious and expensive. I haven't been in the academy for long and I feel like complaining about it.

"Here are five silver coins, and this glass of beer is from my boss."

The boss didn't expect that someone would buy his wine for him, but he accepted it only after seeing Moran's serious look.

After they drank some beer, they started talking and the store was no longer as deserted as before, bringing some warmth to the place.

The boss's face was already a little tipsy, and his burps were full of the smell of alcohol.

"Boss, this food is cheap and delicious, why are there so few people here? This shouldn't be the case."

"Hey, you don't know that our place used to be considered prosperous..."

I learned from the boss that this area was once prosperous.

The residents of the small town once discovered a mineral vein on the mountain, which attracted many outsiders and local residents to dig, and there were also many monsters on the mountain.

The locals offered high prices to adventurers to encircle or protect the miners. More and more people came to the town, until one day the monster Chimera suddenly appeared here and settled down on the mountain.

The monsters on the mountain didn't dare to stay there, the miners no longer dared to approach the mine, and the adventurers left because they knew they couldn't defeat the monster.

Some of the young people in the village followed the adventurers, and the rest of the young people could not do anything in the village, and they were afraid of the unstable factors of the Chimera in the mountains, so they went to the big cities, leaving behind only these stubborn old bones who were unwilling to leave.

After understanding the whole story, Moran had no reason to stay here, so he exchanged a few polite words with the boss and left the place with a creaking sound.

Lingyu and Phil then found the village chief and said they were there to fight Chimera.

At first the village chief was very excited and thought that the village would finally be saved, then he asked about the number of people.

"It's just the two of us and one of us eating out."

"Are you kidding me?"

When the village chief saw the two of them looking so sure, his face almost turned black.

Fortunately, Phil revealed in time that he was the apprentice of the most powerful wizard, Caden, so that the village chief was sure that he was not teasing him.

The village chief enthusiastically packed supplies for them personally and helped them put away their luggage.

However, Lingyu still rejected many things. Anyway, her and Moran's strength had recovered so much that they didn't need these little gadgets. The most important thing was the map above.

But it’s better to give this thing to Moran. I am a person with poor direction and cannot see the medieval map, but Gaode’s map is okay.

"If you two need anything else, please tell me!"

After Lingyu repeatedly declined, she finally did not let an old man in his seventies see them out. Faced with such hospitality, Lingyu could only wave her hand awkwardly.

"Phew, it's finally out."

Phil breathed a sigh of relief.

"I didn't expect there would be someone you couldn't handle, even though you seem so outgoing."

"Ah, me? If I were an outgoing person, you would be my only friend. You saw the man who served me tea and water after he found out I was Caden's apprentice. He is almost four times my age. Who can stand that?"

Phil was complaining a lot, he really made himself sweat profusely.

"How's it going? Are you done with it?"

Moran saw the two of them at the agreed place and came over to meet them.

"We are ready here, how about yours?"

"Alas, let alone the fact that there are no young people in this village, we probably can't find anyone who can lead the way up the mountain. We can only rely on ourselves."

It was not unexpected that Lingyu handed the map he had just obtained to Moran.

It doesn’t matter if there is no one to lead the group. The journey will definitely take longer than the battle anyway, so it doesn’t matter if it’s a little longer. It won’t waste much time, and everything is ready.