Just when I was planning to buy something to give as gifts to the guys at home, someone suddenly grabbed me by the corner of my clothes from behind.
When I turned around, I saw that it was a short girl with short hair.
This strange little girl is wearing a khaki coarse shirt and shorts. She looks thin and small, but the expression on her face is really full of energy. Her skin color is slightly dark, her eyes are big, and there is an irrepressible look in her eyes.
He is energetic and agile, with short, light yellow hair that reaches his shoulders, and some small shiny metal pieces hanging from the ends of his hair. This unique appearance is so different from the common people around him that I couldn't help but take a second look.
But no matter how I look at it... of course I still don't recognize him.
"What's wrong? Do you want help?" I felt that I definitely didn't know the locals here, and I tried my best to dress the same as the local people, so there should be nothing special about it. Then this little girl in front of me
Maybe I'm just lost and looking for help?
"Are you a foreigner?" The spirited little girl opened her mouth and spoke as crisply as popping beans. Her big, bright eyes shot around my body rather unscrupulously, and she nodded her head and came to a conclusion.
"Do you want a tour guide? My name is Elu, I'm here...well, I'm the guide here! I specialize in leading adventurers who are new here! I'm familiar with this place, I know the locations of all the taverns and grocery stores, and I also know
Where is the blacksmith shop! Do you want a tour guide? It only costs twenty coppers a day~"
"Tour guide?" I was stunned for a moment, and then looked around in shock: a small village built along the river. If it hadn't been surrounded by a wall, I would have even thought it was a wild village. A small place with hundreds of households in total.
Can tourism be developed?
And this place doesn't look like a tourist attraction at all. Look at the farmland outside the town, look at the ordinary streets and alleys of the local houses, look at the naked little kids running around beside the haystacks, and the distant
The large forest that is obviously still in a primitive state... Well. The last one may be a bit interesting, but other than that, this place doesn't look like a tourist attraction anywhere. Or is it about the aesthetics and life of people on this planet?
I am a bit more unique in my habits. Now this riverside town that started from being ordinary can be regarded as a tourist attraction?
The little girl who called herself Ellu seemed to see my confusion and jumped up and down: "It's not lively enough now, it will be lively here soon! You won't be able to find an affordable tour guide like me by then! And adventurers
If there are more, the competition will be fierce. If you run around by yourself like this, you will definitely fall behind. Although I am not familiar with the depths of the forest... but I am very familiar with the outside! I can take you to the forest.
Here, just charge twenty coppers more! In addition, I can arrange accommodation for you. My family runs a hotel... we used to run a hotel! Now there are many rooms. It only costs twenty coppers a day!"
The little girl chattered a lot to herself, and before I even opened my mouth, she came up with a lot of causes and consequences, but I didn’t care who she misunderstood me for, I was just curious about one thing: "What the hell...
Is it twenty copper coins?”
"The price is clearly marked, no kidding! Ai Lu always does business with a fixed price!" The little girl explained with a seemingly irrelevant excuse, and then grabbed my clothes again, "Come on, come on, go first
The tavern, then the grocery store, and finally the blacksmith shop... Aren't you adventurers all in this order? They are so professional!"
Just when I was dumbfounded and didn't know how to resolve the misunderstanding, Shandora's voice suddenly sounded in my mind: "There is no goal anyway, so why not follow this little girl and learn about the life of the locals."
"Okay, I'll help you lead the way." I smiled and patted the head of the little girl who called herself Elu. At the same time, I secretly made some local currency based on my previous observations, so that I could pay the little girl as a guide. Speaking of which,
This technologically backward world is easy to fool. At least the currency is relatively primitive, and copper plates are easier to make than credit cards and anti-counterfeiting chips...
Ellu glanced at me in surprise. It seemed that she was a little surprised that someone actually asked her to lead the way. I immediately felt that I had been deceived, but soon the little girl put away the surprise in her eyes and became happy.
He ran to the side: "Come on, come on~! I'll take you to the tavern first! There are a lot of adventurers here, all gathered in the past few days, it's awesome!"
"Why doesn't she look like a tour guide?" I couldn't help but mutter in my mental connection, "How could she abandon the guests and run forward happily."
"I don't think she looks like a tour guide," Sandora said, hovering next to my head invisibly, "But maybe it's just the nature of a child."
There are still a lot of doubts in my mind, such as how did the little girl Ailu recognize her identity as an outsider, how did she conceive of me as a so-called adventurer, and why does such a small riverside town have a "tour guide"?
What was going on with this business, and what the other party mentioned that "it's going to get lively soon"? With my symptoms of advanced systemic diffuse obsessive-compulsive disorder, if I don't understand these issues, I'm afraid I'll have trouble sleeping and eating, so I quickly
I caught up with the little "guide" who was jumping and running fast in front, and chatted with her as a new arrival: "How did you know that I am a foreigner? How I dress
It should be the same as ordinary people here."
"You can spot an outsider at a glance!" the little girl Ailu said carelessly, "I know everyone in this town! So anyone I don't know must be an outsider."
Me: "..." This is actually such an identification method!?
Fortunately, the little girl had something else to say: "In addition, you behave like an outsider. You are not familiar with the roads here and are interested in common things in the market. When buying things, you hesitate for a long time and don't know what to choose. This
It looks like he's from out of town. I'm a professional guide. Spotting foreigners in need of help from the crowd at a glance is the most basic survival skill. By the way, do you want a map of this place? A map of the town and the surrounding ten miles only costs 20
A copper plate!"
The little girl spoke eloquently at the beginning, but her true nature was exposed again later: She only knew one number in her life, right?
I nodded, and then I saw Elu take out a ball of crumpled yellow straw paper from the front pocket of his shirt: "Here you are, twenty copper coins! Pay the money with one hand and deliver the goods with the other!"
Although it seemed like a trap, I still counted out 20 coins and stuffed them into the little girl's hand. Then I took the crumpled ball of paper and unfolded it and found that it was indeed a trap: it was a one-foot-square piece that hadn't been cut yet.
Neatly cut straw paper, with a map like a simple sketch outlined in thick black strokes. Look at the childlike tree icon, look at the childish evil dog logo. Look at the childlike evil dog logo.
Father Sun... I also drew this thing before the second grade of elementary school, and Little Bubble at home is still drawing similar things to this day, and to be fair, Little Bubble's drawings are more neat than this.
This is a map with twenty copper plates each. You can tell at a glance that it was drawn by Elu himself, and more importantly...
I reached out and swiped it on the map, and immediately I had to wash my hands: This thing is fading! She drew it with charcoal!
"Based on this map alone, I can confirm that we must have been deceived," I chatted with Sandora in the spiritual connection, "No matter how unreliable the tour guide is, there is no way he can actually sell this thing for money.
"
"You were tricked. I didn't let you buy anything just now," Sandora Ball said as it floated to the head of the little girl Ai Lu. Of course, the latter knew nothing about it, "Continue to follow her, see if this child is still
What's the trick?"
At this time, Ellu had already put away the handful of coins with a look of surprise. There were various signs that she did not expect that she could really make money, and this made me more sure that she was actually a naughty kid who was messing around. However,
I have rich experience in dealing with naughty children, and more importantly, I have a strong tolerance, so I just treat them as a relaxing place. After the other party put away the coins, I patted her hair: "Speaking of which... you said this place is very
What’s going on that’s going to get lively soon?”
"Don't you know?" Ellu shook his head to show that he was not a child who needed to be patted on the head, and then looked over in surprise, "Aren't you an adventurer? Are you just passing by?"
There was a look of disappointment visible to the naked eye on the other party's face. It seemed that as long as she was sure that the person in front of her was not an "adventurer", she would turn away and leave. Although I didn't know what was going on, I decided to continue the misunderstanding at this time.
So he integrated the deception experience he had cultivated over the years and made up the lie as roundly as possible: "Of course he is an adventurer. But you also saw that I came out alone, and the intelligence was not very good... Well, I didn't expect it to be like this.
Many people came here. I thought I was the only one attracted here. Aren’t you a tour guide? Tell me what you know.”
"Oh, that's it." Ellu didn't think too much about my vague explanation, and when she talked about a certain topic, her face showed an inexplicable look of excitement, "Of course it's because of the forest.
The ruins of the ancient tower recently discovered have been spread to the capital of the kingdom, and the priest of the church issued an amnesty order allowing exploration. As a result, many adventurers came here all of a sudden! Isn’t that what the novels say, Momo
Mysterious ancient ruins suddenly appeared next to an unknown small village. Then many powerful adventurers came to destroy the monsters in the ruins. The earlier the adventurers were, the easier it was to become heroes. The local children who led the heroic adventurers later later
He has also become a famous scholar on the continent... Elu will soon meet many powerful adventurers! Then I will also become famous!"
I immediately knew what was going on with this little girl... I told you that children should study hard and not read too many extracurricular books!
However, after removing Elu's secondary fantasy part, the remaining information is still very useful: it seems that this seemingly ordinary riverside town is indeed about to become lively, and the reason for the excitement is in the big forest next to it
Something called an "ancient tower" was discovered? Could this ancient tower be related to the chronology of civilization?
Shandora and I decided on the spot that after walking around with Ellu to get a general understanding of the town, we would take the time to go have a look in the forest. Maybe we would find something interesting.
And the little girl Ellu, who was full of thoughts of "getting to know adventurers, becoming as powerful as in the novel, and finally traveling the continent and becoming a famous scholar" quickly took us to the first destination, a place to see.
Going up to the tavern, which is not much bigger than the ramen restaurants that can be seen everywhere on the streets of Earth, it is quite lively to hear the goings on inside.
"This is it!" Ellu said loudly at the door of the tavern, "This is the home of adventurers! The starting point of your journey!"
As soon as Ellu finished speaking, a dwarf lady with a length-to-width ratio of almost one to one ran out of the tavern, pulled Ellu's ears and roared like a lion from the east of the river: "Little girl is here to cause trouble again, and here comes the trouble again!
Go home and dream of your dreams! This is the River Valley Tavern! Last year it was called the Forest Tavern! The year before that it was called the Pork Bone Soup Tavern! The year before that it was called the Gold-encrusted Tavern! Even further back, my grandfather’s generation was not a home for adventurers! You
...Hey, I'm sorry I didn't see any customers at the door. Are you here to eat?"
The dwarf aunt raised her eyes and saw me standing three meters away with an embarrassed look on her face. She suddenly lost her composure. The short and fierce aunt who was almost vertical and horizontal threw Elu aside with a look of a businessman on her face.
With that kind of unique kindness and shrewdness, he smiled at me and greeted me: "Aren't you deceived by this kid Elu? She just dreams big all day long. Don't mind... she's not a local, right?"
Me: "..." Has my camouflage skill deteriorated over the years? How can anyone find out that I am not familiar with this place? And they all notice it at first sight!
However, the dwarf aunt has completely exposed Ellu's true face with one sentence. It turns out that she is really a brat who talks recklessly. However, this girl does not seem to have the consciousness to be exposed at all. She does not even have an embarrassed expression on her face.
He just grinned and made a face at the dwarf lady for a long time, and then pulled me towards the tavern: "Tavern aunt Pasali, a woman with a bad temper and a loud voice. Hmm, just wait and see, this tavern will definitely be there by then."
It will become a gathering place for adventurers. Aunt Pasali, you will be responsible for distributing tasks to adventurers sooner or later! Come, I will take you to familiarize yourself with the atmosphere here..."
The dwarf proprietress of the tavern gave Ellu a hard look, but it seemed that the latter often acted like this and reached the point where no one could discipline her, so the proprietress could only glare at her, then she followed me with a smile and explained:
"Don't mind. This child is a famous 'character' in our town. She always fantasizes about far-fetched things. Recently, there have been more and more adventurers in the town, and she has become more and more uncontrollable. Anyway, don't worry about it.
Don't take anything she says seriously. I'll report to her family later."
Ellu jumped up and down from behind: "Aunt Pasali, you are prejudiced! I am working very hard to help my family make money!"
What he got in return was another glare.
I smiled nonchalantly: "It's okay, I just happened to come from out of town, and I'm not familiar with the place. This little girl really took me to many places. Speaking of which... you discovered a ruins near here, right?"
I tried my best to speak based on the information I already had. To prevent it from being too weird to say too much, as for the naughty boy Elu who used a hand-drawn map to defraud twenty coppers... Haha, can we not mention this?
Besides, let’s play with the kids.
Pasali smiled happily: "Relics, there have been a lot of people attracted by this recently, but it is also a good thing. Our family's business has been much better. In the past, only people who were looking for the elves to buy things would pass by this place. Now, in a few days, this place is full of people.
It’s as lively as anything.”
I turned my face and looked at the street not far away. It was indeed very lively. When I looked at the scenery of the town outside, I just thought it was bustling with people. Now that I knew about the ruins, I took a closer look and found that there were indeed many people who looked unhappy.
Like civilians... these should all be strangers.
It was probably because so many outsiders came and the residents of the town were well prepared for unfamiliar faces that Ellu and Pasali could immediately guess that I was also from a foreign country - after all, in a small town like this,
Residents have some impressions of each other, and even those who have never met can tell at a glance whether the other person has the "flavor" of a local.
No matter where you go, outsiders are quite conspicuous in small villages and towns where neighbors chat with each other.
The furnishings in the tavern are simple, and there is nothing special about the structure, but there are quite a lot of guests. Elu dragged me around and couldn't find an empty table. In the end, I could only find an empty seat against the wall.
Two diners who seemed to have been here for a while sat down at a shared table. It wasn’t until I sat down that I remembered something: I didn’t seem to say I wanted to come for a drink or a meal, right?
Why were you dragged in by this weird little girl!? Isn’t it just sightseeing and not spending money?
"This shows that this little girl is indeed born to be a tour guide." The sandora ball landed on the table in front of me invisibly, rolling around while making sarcastic remarks, "Whether you are interested or not, just go around.
It doesn’t matter if you want to buy it or not, it’s worth it. But I suggest you don’t stay here for too long...it’s easy to become manic while others are eating while I watch.”
Me: "..." I realized that Sandora might become manic for a long time in the past few days.
But since I had already sat down, it was a bit inappropriate to turn around and leave at this time (mainly because I was a little scared to see the dwarf lady whose length was equal to her width blocking the door), so I still raised my hand to greet the lady who was sitting at a few tables.
The little waitress who was busy running around served a few side dishes and drinks casually. Because I didn’t know what this world was like, I asked her to look at it. It also gave me the appearance of a visitor from afar, and
Eluze took this moment to sit down next to me and began to tell me the story of this town and the ferocious monsters in the forest in a serious manner. The story was vivid and vivid, from the early days of the town's establishment when the pioneers fought bravely against the plains savages.
From the dangerous and terrifying ancient giant monsters in the nearby forest, to the Royal Knights who come to the plains outside the town every now and then to fight against foreign invaders, the stories are so colorful and vivid, I have roughly summed up her story.
, and finally came to the conclusion: If half of her story is true, then this small town now covers an area of at least more than 2,000 square kilometers, and there are already three armies of Kingdom Knights lying in the large forest next to it.
Moreover, more than a dozen princes peeped at local girls taking a bath by the river at the west end of the village - those girls eventually became queens of neighboring countries side by side.
...how many chivalry novels does this child usually read?
Just when I was shocked by Elu's increasingly unreliable description, a middle-aged man sitting opposite me who looked like a stranger suddenly spoke: "Are you also looking for ruins?" (To be continued, please search Gone with the Wind. Astronomy and novels are better and updated faster!