Chapter 60: Chapter 17: Chessboard Realm 1
Medieval civilization?
Su Ziyu looked at the two people riding horses past him, his gaze falling on their weapons. The man on the right used a giant sword, which looked quite heavy, while the man on the left wielded a hybrid sword, a type of weapon that can be used with one hand or both, not quite a one-handed or two-handed sword, but something in between, suitable for slashing. The kind Ken usually used was such a weapon.
The man with the giant sword also had a nail head hammer sticking out of his bundle, which seemed quite heavy.
These two first glanced at Su Ziyu’s face, their expressions showed no surprise, as if they had seen Asians before. But when their eyes fell on the anti-material sniper rifle behind Su Ziyu, they couldn’t help but reveal strong curiosity and confusion, speculating on what kind of weapon it might be.
It looked a bit like a gun, but very strange in appearance, and without an edge.
Could it be used for smashing people?
Ahead, not far, was a human town; it didn’t look very large, surrounded by a wooden fence, with a lazy, bearded man standing on the watchtower. He merely glanced at Su Ziyu and then turned away. Su Ziyu thought for a moment and used his clothing to cover up the anti-material sniper rifle a little before slowly walking into the town.
All he could see were wooden houses.
The small town’s edge was visible at first glance, and it had very few shops— just a general store, a blacksmith shop, and an inn.
There was a burly old man at the blacksmith shop smoking a pipe. He sized Su Ziyu up and then looked away. Inside the general store was a woman around thirty, with arms not much slenderer than a man’s. She was walking out carrying a piece of wood to burn as firewood.
The inn seemed crowded, with noise audible even from a distance.
Each shop had a sign: the blacksmith shop had a hammer and anvil, the general store had a bag, and the inn had a bed. The unmarked ones were residential homes for the town’s inhabitants.
The population wasn’t large.
Probably just about a couple of thousand people, less than the neighborhood Su Ziyu lived in.
Creak.
Su Ziyu pushed open the door and entered the inn, where over ten people were sitting, looking rather tough. The two horsemen he had encountered earlier were sitting in a corner. Hearing the door open, several others looked at Su Ziyu with surprised expressions, whispering to one another.
There was even an Asian among them, though with features suggestive of a Eurasian blend, showing slight differences.
Most were armed.
The innkeeper was a chubby old man, looking a bit anxious. He greeted Su Ziyu and asked, "What would you like, sir?"
Su Ziyu pointed at something on the table next to him without speaking.
Did he not like to talk?
Or was he mute?
The innkeeper glanced at the black short blade on Su Ziyu’s waist and carefully asked, "Would you like something from that table?"
Su Ziyu nodded.
The human language differed significantly from the Elven language, sounding somewhat like Latin in grammar, requiring some time for him to master.
"It will be right up." The innkeeper quickly left.
After watching Su Ziyu for a while, the others lost interest and resumed their murmured conversations. They seemed to be mercenaries or adventurers, discussing how to kill a flying dragon. This topic piqued Su Ziyu’s interest; he had never seen a real dragon before.
"Please enjoy your meal." A server brought the food.
Barley porridge, black sausage, mushroom soup, gray bread, and a mug of beer. The beer had no froth and smelled slightly sour, indicating quite primitive brewing methods.
The food was average at best.
Far inferior to what the Great Elves made; barely edible.
After a few bites, Su Ziyu lost his appetite and simply listened to the others. The situation was straightforward: a flying dragon had nested nearby, threatening the residents and alarming the local lord. The dragon attacked humans and livestock, resulting in over a dozen deaths and numerous livestock losses in the past couple of months. Consequently, the local lord announced a bounty for anyone able to slay the dragon, offering a handsome reward. However, because the dragon had made its nest atop a snowy mountain, only mercenaries had the patience to hunt it.
Some of those present had been there for a while.
They had seen the dragon a few times but had no way to deal with it since the dragon never landed, simply flying out of the mercenaries’ reach.
A frequent topic of conversation was the dragon’s nest location.
Hearing that arrows couldn’t reach the dragon, Su Ziyu instinctively touched his anti-material sniper rifle, unsure of how modern weapons would fare against such a legendary creature.
The flying dragon was a sub-dragon species.
Its neck was long and thin, with no forelimbs, only powerful hind legs, and no scales. It could swallow half a cow in one bite, making it quite a dangerous beast. If it were like the giant dragon Su Ziyu had seen in the Witch’s Tree House, a single breath of dragon fire would incinerate all present to ashes.
"Have you heard?"
"The border’s at war again," a mercenary whispered, "the Black Queen’s minions have appeared once more."
"Lots of monsters have come out."
"Which is why the flying dragon showed up here."
The Black Queen?
Is there a Black Queen here too?
Chessboard Realm?
Like black and white chess pieces? Su Ziyu became interested upon hearing this, but unfortunately, they stopped discussing it, clearly a taboo subject.
He vaguely heard a term — "Dragon Witch."
Some mercenaries were settling their bills and leaving, using a coin with a woman’s head surrounded by flowers on the front and a budding flower on the back.
Was this the White Queen?
This woman was quite narcissistic, putting her face on the currency.
Su Ziyu beckoned to the innkeeper, then took out a blank silver coin, lacking any pattern, and spoke with slightly stiff language, "Can I pay with this?"
"Yes... yes." The innkeeper looked again at the black short blade on Su Ziyu’s waist, bit the silver coin, and replied.
Su Ziyu nodded, "Prepare a room for me too."
The ability of Master of Language was powerful, and he had already grasped some daily usages.
"Sure." The innkeeper left quickly.
After a while, he returned with a large bag of copper coins; a quick glance suggested about a hundred. It seemed that silver coins from the Wasteland World had strong purchasing power here.
Before leaving the Wasteland World, Su Ziyu anticipated needing gold and silver currency, so besides weapons, ammunition, food, and medicine, he had prepared an extra kilogram of silver coins and two kilograms of gold coins. In the Wasteland World, these items were worthless, easily scavenged from city ruins; the sight of a gold necklace wasn’t worth the effort to bend down and pick up.
Su Ziyu’s most valuable assets were gemstones, obtained through Pasha’s connections.
In any world using gold and silver currencies, Su Ziyu might not claim extreme wealth, but he was comfortably affluent.
Alas, he was limited by weight.
Otherwise, Su Ziyu could have brought more things.
.........