"Perhaps you were just hunting before and didn't discover the true face of the empire. Seeing how they didn't hesitate to 'treat you the same way', the only way out is to go to Windhelm City and join the Stormcloaks."
"No, even if the dragon didn't come just now, General Tullius was ready to pardon you. I saw him leaving Ulfric and heading this way. It's the time when the empire is employing people. With your skills, you will definitely be able to pardon you."
will be reused."
"It is so bold of the empire to pardon a person who has committed no crime."
"If you are willing to quit the Stormcloaks, I can use my military rank to vouch for your innocence."
"Hmph, when we reach Dugu City, I will spare your life."
After coming out of the bear cave, Arthur used his rich experience to find an "animal path" down the mountain. Although the snow bears were intimidating, there might still be bold beasts wandering nearby, so he took a long bow and explored ahead.
road.
Hadava and Larov have been trying to recruit him from behind, and they started bickering with each other without even saying a word.
Arthur didn't pay attention to the debate between them, and was focusing a part of his mind on the "thing" he had just discovered - it was a bright starry sky with the exact positions of the stars no different from those seen at night.
After experimenting, Arthur discovered that if he moved his gaze upward, no matter whether he was looking at the top of a cave, the branches and leaves of trees, or the sky, as long as he had the idea of "wanting to see higher", he would be able to see the strange starry sky.
Stars that originally had nothing to do with each other were connected to each other by silver lines, forming special constellations. After being connected, the very abstract constellations would have a virtual image of something, such as the star he just shot.
When Snow Bear arrived, a virtual image of an ordinary longbow lit up on a group of stars that looked like a semicircle, and one of them became extremely bright.
This means that my mastery of bows and arrows has been upgraded. For this reason, I need to add some points to my bow and arrow abilities? A strange idea came to Arthur's mind.
There have been many opinions on how Tiber Septim was promoted to the Ninth Holy Spirit. Now it seems that he may have seen such a starry sky.
If the stars in all the constellations in the entire starry sky were lit up - just thinking about it, the constellations in the sky made him feel dizzy and stopped at the same time.
"What's wrong, Arthur?" Hadawa stopped and looked ahead. The cave was surrounded by man-made traces. Unburned bonfires, piles of barrels, pyres, and simple furnaces all proved its identity.
.
"That's the coal mine." Larov said, "The main mineral supplier in Ximu Town. We might be able to buy some supplies from the workers."
"How long have you been in the army?" Arthur looked at the entrance of the cave warily. There was a man standing there who didn't look like a miner. He carried a two-handed sword on his back and wore an extremely crude and completely ill-fitting armor.
Brutal.
"Three years, maybe four years." Larov also noticed something was wrong and picked up the double-edged ax behind his back.
"Three years and seven months," Hadawa sighed: "When the Stormcloaks started the rebellion, we said we would join the army together, but who knew that the 'army' we mentioned was not the same army at all."
"During this period, this mine was occupied by bandits. This kind of thing is not uncommon." Arthur handed the bow and arrow to Larov: "Your weapons and protection are not enough to fight him head-on. Wait here.
"
"Now we can know whether this outstanding hunter has any means to deal with people." Larov checked the longbow and put it back on his back.
"At least there is no problem with this." Hadawa looked at Arthur's movements.
————
As soon as Arthur touched the back of the robber, in the starry sky in his mind, a virtual constellation like a poisonous snake suddenly flickered, and a certain star on it suddenly brightened.
Unsteady on his feet, he kicked a weapon that had been thrown on the ground and failed to be forged, immediately attracting the attention of the armored bandit who was resting against a pillar.
"It's not the right time for you to get lost, my friend." He raised his hand to pull out the two-handed giant sword behind his back.
"Cut." Arthur leaned over and made a flying shovel, tripping the robber who was unbalanced in order to draw the sword to the sky. The half-drawn sword also flew out of his hands. Arthur caught the two-handed sword and hit the robber hard.
On the iron helmet, the robber who originally planned to struggle to get up was knocked unconscious.
"Well done." Arthur rushed out after accidentally missing, but when he reached Arthur's side, the battle was over.
"Huh? Still alive?" Larov followed and kicked the robber.
"I have been hunting animals, and I don't know what to do after catching a robber." Arthur was holding the two-handed sword and trying to swing it: "Should I hand it over to the guards in a nearby town or kill him directly?"
"Collect the property and throw it out to feed the wolves." "It depends on what they do." Larov and Hadava said at the same time, and stared at each other again.
"If you let them go, will you be responsible for them attacking Ximu Town?"
"How do you know they're not mining for themselves? And I didn't say I was going to let them go."
"Ha, you are obviously worried about the supply of supplies for your blacksmith shop."
"Wait? Will the robbers dig their own mines?" Arthur interjected as he adapted to the weight, length and center of gravity of the two-handed sword.
"'Bandits' is a general term," Hadawa explained: "The empire has always directly eliminated the bandits who occupy abandoned castles, Nord ruins and other places, mainly attacking merchants and pedestrians, and occupy mines or beast lairs.
, those who sell minerals, meat and furs to towns are mainly forced to work after being dispersed or captured."
"It's a pity that the Stormcloaks always directly kill this kind of guy," Ralof sneered. He was completely unworthy of becoming a robber when towns everywhere were short of manpower and they could survive as long as they worked hard.
Call them Nords."
"Hmm..." Arthur looked at the unconscious robber with some hesitation. He was not sure what strange reaction the "starry sky" would have if he killed the robber.
"But he is your prisoner, and you will handle it according to the rules, Arthur." Hadawa looked at Arthur and said.
"I decided to go into the mine to see what they were doing," Arthur shook his head. "If there are still people alive after the battle, we will reconsider."
"Listen to you, it's not appropriate to let a group of bandits set up a nest near Ximu Town." Larov said as he tied up the bandit with a nearby hemp rope.
————
Embry felt very unlucky.
As a veteran who left his hometown a long time ago, no one in Ximu Town knew him. Fortunately, Ogna, the owner of the Sleeping Giant Hotel, seemed to have heard of his name and prepared an abandoned warehouse for him as a shelter.
Place.
He still had the strength to make a living by chopping firewood in a sawmill, but all the extra money was used to buy wine, so he remained in a state of extreme poverty.
It was completely impossible for such a beggar-like person to arouse the interest of bandits, so he often wandered around Ximu Town, occasionally catching rabbits and beating them as sacrifices, but he was captured by a group of bandits.
The bandits locked him and several other unlucky guys who were also captured in the mine, forced them to mine, and then melted the ore into ingots and sold them, and sometimes they also made some low-quality armor and weapons.
Curse those blacksmiths who accept goods regardless of where they come from.
Embry walked out from the depths of the mine holding his waist. He suspected that he might not be able to chop firewood after leaving here. If he could still leave, after all, there had been three landslides during this period, and he would be buried sooner or later.
Go in.
"Dang!" "Zheng!"
The hall where the bandits gathered did not have as many bandits eating and drinking as usual. Three young men whom they had not seen before were chasing and beating up several bandits who were fleeing in panic. They were wearing hunter leather armor and storm cloak armor.
, Imperial Armor... Has Skyrim been unified?
"This should be the last prisoner." After knocking down the bandits, the three young men walked up to Embry. The young man wearing hunter leather armor and holding a big sword looked at him: "Old man, there are other prisoners.
The robbers captured the people doing the work?”
"No, no more," Embry looked at the familiar miners who were timidly following the young man: "They are all here."
"What do you say?" He heard the young man in Imperial armor say to his companion in Stormcloak leather armor: "These bandits just capture homeless people and force them to work."
"So what?" Stormcloak replied: "We have to escort these miners back to the town. If we take those bandits with us, there will only be three of us, and there will definitely be trouble on the road. It would be easier to kill them directly."
"Arthur, what do you think?" The Imperial Armor looked at the young man with the big sword who started asking the question.
"Well..." Arthur thought and raised the two-handed sword in his hand.
"Here, sir!" Embry took a step forward and said with unknown courage: "Please take those robbers away and leave us alone!"
As soon as the words came out, everyone was stunned. Embry saw that only a few of the more than ten miners showed dissatisfied looks, while most of them were thoughtful, and he suddenly felt reassured.
"We have adapted to the work of mining and smelting in this mine," he continued: "Its mineral output and sales channels are also very clear to those of us. It would be a pity to let it go unused."
As soon as these words came out, the eyes of the miners who were still hesitating suddenly changed.
Yes, Embry thought, everyone is a tramp and a beggar. It is rare to have a chance to make money. Those bandits don't work at all. They just sell the minerals they dig and they can live happily ever after. If the income belongs to themselves,
If you take control——
"Well... it seems feasible," the young man known as Arthur nodded: "But your own safety is a problem, and you also have to pay taxes to the lord."
"I'm familiar with those!" Embry answered quickly, "I used to go back and forth between Ximu and Xueman often."
"At least I can't think of any loopholes," Arthur looked at the imperial soldiers and Stormcloaks: "If the lord sends guards, there should be no more bandits trying to attack this place."
"Then tie up the bandits and take them away," Stormcloak said. "There are only nine bandits. The guards in Ximu Town are enough to take care of them."
Wasn't there more than twenty? Embry glanced around and saw the corpses of several robbers cut in half with big swords. He was instantly silent.
