'Gobron' means 'shark lizard' in Dwarvish.

Gobron's Lair is the only inn in Aldus King City that is willing to accommodate non-duergar people.

It is built at the northern end of the Dark Lake District, in a group of small caves beneath the Blade Market.

Through the cold and damp corridor, you can enter the central cave that serves as the restaurant.

With the restaurant as the center, the builders dug out small guest rooms of various crooked shapes extending in all directions.

Although these rooms are small and uncomfortably dark, they are simple and sturdy and can provide a certain degree of security.

"Are we still going to the Smoky Quartz Cave today?" Xisiya opened the door curtain made of Ross animal skin, put her right hand on her chest, bowed her slender waist, and entered the small box.

Through the flickering candlelight in the darkness, she saw that Brian had been sitting at the stone table waiting for her for a long time.

Yesterday, she and Brian went to the Smoky Quartz Cave, where the stone giants live.

Who would have thought that this group of stone giants who had nothing to do with the world and liked to live a peaceful and quiet life in seclusion would drive them out mercilessly without even letting Brian say a few words.

If she hadn't reacted quickly enough, she would have been almost hit by a boulder the size of a millstone thrown by a stone giant guard who looked like he was about to go crazy.

Although she couldn't help laughing when she was lying alone on the bed afterwards and recalling Brian's embarrassment when he ran away, but for some reason, when she saw him sitting in front of her again, she couldn't laugh at all, and even a little bit

Inexplicably guilty.

"That's right." Brian didn't bother to look up at the sword mage who walked in, and just replied in a slightly depressed tone.

Hearing this, Hesiah sat down on the cold stone chair.

She supported her face with her hands, stared at Brian across from her, and stretched out her white, slender fingers slightly boredly, twirling the hair hanging down the side of her face.

She saw a look of sadness that was rare for her appear on his face that had strong lines yet still had the softness of an elf, and the wrinkles between his eyebrows were as deep as furrows.

The two of them had been together almost inseparable for such a long time, which made her know that whenever Brian started to concentrate on thinking about a problem, he would often have this standard frowning expression, but she could clearly feel that this time he was really serious.

encountered troublesome things.

Thinking that not only could she not be of any help, but she was also secretly amused, Hesiah suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

She glanced at Brian secretly, twirled her fingertips around her hanging hair, thought seriously for a moment, and tentatively expressed her thoughts to him:

"Brian, I don't think we need to keep an eye on the stone giant. If that doesn't work, let's go back to the surface first. In that case, I can help you bring some reinforcements."

Hesiah thought of the Duchess and the Mage Tower in Arabay City.

She believed that as long as she returned to the surface, with her identity and status, and with the help of the Mage Tower, she could instantly teleport an elite team from the War Mage Legion over to assist Brian.

In this situation, this was almost the only way she could help him.

"I appreciate your kindness, but this method is obviously a bit ill-considered." Brian raised his eyelids and glanced at Hesiah, rejecting her proposal without thinking:

"Because the area leading from Aldus King City to the surface is the Mokou Mountains, which is at least half a month's journey from Arabe City."

In fact, he also hid some things from the sword mage.

Although he knew that King Aldus City definitely had a passage to the surface, he did not know where exactly this passage was.

I just roughly know that the passage is hidden in the area where the derro dwarves live.

Fortunately, he also knew that there was a conspicuous broken spire near the passage, which prevented him from searching aimlessly.

"...Obviously a little thoughtless." The question Hesaya was thinking about was obviously not the focus. She repeated these words secretly, feeling a little speechless in her heart.

Because in her opinion, lack of consideration and lack of brains actually mean the same thing.

In other words, he was roundaboutly saying that she had no brains, and he was kind enough to help him, but instead he was ridiculed...

Forget it, seeing your frown, I won’t argue with you for now, Hesiah looked at Brian and thought magnanimously.

After all, she still has information about the Nese Scroll. She believes that when things here are over, Brian will definitely come to her, and then she will be able to take the initiative and take back everything with interest.

Thinking back on it afterwards, she was shocked to find that a cautious person like him would blatantly place something as precious as the Nese Scroll in front of her.

She immediately realized that Brian's purpose of doing this was probably to arouse her curiosity, and when she brought it up stupidly and ignorantly, she happened to ask and went to explore the two Nese of the Kingdom of Cormyr.

The whereabouts of the scroll.

In this case, she would be even less likely to let him easily get the opportunity to view the scroll. She must make good use of this opportunity and make him pay something.

Hesiah's silver-grey eyes wandered around Brian's body, and a subtle smile unconsciously appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Naturally, Brian didn't know that his casual words had caused the sword mage opposite him to start thinking about his thoughts. At the same time, he didn't even look up to see the other person's weird smile.

He was silent for a moment, then suddenly clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and said to her very firmly:

"We will go there again today. If the stone giant guard dares to block the road, we will beat him until he begs for mercy. I don't believe that such a big movement will not attract the attention of their clan leader."

In fact, he didn't want to offend these neutral stone giants at all, but if he wanted to carry out his plan, he had to win the assistance of the stone giant clan.

And the most important thing is that these stone men invented a very magical magic gem "Stone Whisperer Crystal", which is something he must get.

However, what depressed him was that the stone men guarding the Smoky Quartz Cave were smelly and hard just like his racial characteristics. No matter how he explained it, even the demon lords brought it up, but they just refused to inform them, not let them go, not spread rumors, and did not believe them.

, and finally he hit the two of them on the head with a stone as big as a millstone.

Since the soft one was not enough, he could only use the hard one. He wanted to see if the head of this iron-headed stone giant was as smelly and hard as the stones in the latrine.

It just happened that after he returned to the hotel yesterday, he activated a four-ring evocation spell "Bigby Battering Ram" from the arcane fire, so he used his head to test its power first.

After thinking about the problem, Brian's frown slowly relaxed, showing a smile, and said to Hesiah, "Let's eat later. After the meal, we will go directly to the Smoky Quartz Cave."

"Yeah." Seeing Brian's familiar confident smile appear again, Hesiah's expression relaxed, she instinctively smiled at him, and nodded gently.

She felt that since she met Brian, she rarely used her brain to think about problems.

She always subconsciously thinks that he definitely has his reasons for choosing to do this, and she just needs to implement it seriously.

This made her vaguely feel that she might have really taken over the position of guard.

Although the sword mages of the Kingdom of Cormyr are almost all the best guards in the royal family, she did not choose the sword mages for the position of guard.

Forget about it for now, let's wait until we return to the surface. Hesaya found a fairly pertinent reason for herself and forcibly dispelled the chaotic thoughts in her mind.

It won't take a while.

Two halfling servants brought the hot food over.

Seeing the fragrant mushroom soup, Brian immediately threw away the whole thing about the stone giant.

In his opinion, nothing is as important as filling his own stomach.

He found that half a year had passed since he left the small world where he was born until now.

After escaping from the ancient Orens city of the dark elves, he spent almost all his time immersed in hunting underground monsters and gaining experience points.

Just like a wilderness ranger on the surface, away from the hotbed and hot bath life habits, embarking on thrilling escape and survival journeys.

This is why after he came to the gray dwarf city, he knew that there were very urgent things that needed to be done, but he still did not forget to use his own conditions and rare leisure time to enjoy a comfortable life.

Because he knows the importance of combining work and rest.

Even in this world where gods dominate and mortals can master extraordinary powers, mental fatigue cannot be easily restored by magic or potions.

For Brian, burning life is not just about overdraft. No matter how strong your body and full of mental strength are, there will be times when you get tired.

Combining work and rest is a survival strategy for stepping on the ladder of the strong, and the body is the capital to support becoming stronger, and rest is the prelude to running wildly.

As a noble master, he would not be like a monk who likes to explore his own potential through ascetic practices that are almost self-destructive.

Moreover, even the monks themselves, when their bodies reach a certain endurance limit, will involuntarily stop, open their bodies and minds, relax wholeheartedly, and use meditation to quietly comprehend their own practice.

Results.

Therefore, rationally arranging effective practice according to the time relationship is an important condition for him to learn magic.

Because of the improvement in spell learning efficiency, what is most needed is a clear and agile mind.

As a spell caster, proper rest and relaxation are not only beneficial, but also necessary.

Not only can this improve his efficiency in researching arcane knowledge, but it can also keep his brain awake and agile forever, preventing him from becoming incompetently furious and losing his mind over trivial matters.

When a person can't see or care about anything except magic, he is actually crazy. A madman who doesn't even have reason can talk about studying mysteries and exploring the unknown places of the multiverse.

Especially in a desolate world like the Underdark.

In the surface world, animals kill to obtain food in order to survive, but the creatures that haunt this underground dark labyrinth do not kill to survive.

Because survival itself is their ordeal.

Affected by the radiation of the ley lines, they will be driven by various reasons to commit murder, madness, hatred, and the evil and out-of-control atmosphere that etches every stone.

They kill because only in killing can they find relief.

When your eyes have seen the phantoms in the underdark, witnessed the inescapable doomsday scene, and are always wandering in the dark and twisting tunnels.

Even if your heart is strong enough, it will be affected to varying degrees.

In this case, only proper relaxation can relieve this oppressive and breathless feeling and prevent you from collapse and falling into madness.

When Brian was a slave and stayed in the ancient city of Orens, he could still vividly remember the creepy kiss from the drow wizard Jonara.

If he hadn't killed the drow wizard with his own hands, and found comfort in Santila, a rebellious drow girl, that would make him feel happy physically and mentally.

He might actually leave some psychological shadow.

Thinking of the unpleasant memories, Brian laughed and immediately patted his forehead to dispel them. He focused on the food on the stone table and started to fill the bowl with soup.

"What kind of soup did you order this time?" Hesiah took the thick soup handed over by Brian, sniffed it, and asked curiously.

"All the mushroom soup in the Underdark." Brian said to her with a smile.

"What a strange name. Does it have any special meaning?" Hesiah asked as usual.

"In fact, this hearty mushroom soup is named after the tradition of the svirfnebrows, who, in the tense atmosphere of entertaining guests, frantically rush in and out of their pantries and fungus gardens to dish out food for guests, sometimes too much.

It’s called the ‘Welcome Soup.’”

While tasting the delicious mushroom soup, Brian recalled the knowledge in his mind and said to her:

"The mushroom soup itself is a meal for the deep dwarves. It is full of colorful mushrooms, as well as green beans, peas, sweet flint corn, and red bell peppers from the surface world. Once here, the gray dwarves boldly eat the fungus.

, the raw materials of fire moss and luminous mushroom are mixed together to make people feel warm and comfortable when drinking it to resist the damp and cold atmosphere of the ground."

"It looks pretty good." Hesiah looked at the colorful mushrooms in the soup. She seemed to have remembered something, and said with a smile:

"Brian, you know, when I saw the red mushrooms in the soup, I suddenly thought of Timo's favorite song 'Red Umbrella, White Pole'. Did you teach him this song?"

"You are overthinking. How could I teach him such a childish children's song?" Brian said with a straight face and curled his lips in feigned disdain.

"That's true."

Hesiah nodded with conviction. She took a small sip of mushroom soup gracefully, feeling the unique taste of the underground world. She nodded slightly with satisfaction and said:

"Listening to your explanation of the ingredients and origin of this soup, I suddenly remembered that there seems to be similar food in the Sword Coast, but... it took too long, and I couldn't remember what it was called."

"It's all the seafood soup in the Sword Coast." Brian finished the last mouthful of the soup in the bowl, filled another bowl, and said to her:

"I used to travel to the port cities in the Sword Coast region, such as Neverwinter, Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep, and I could enjoy this stewed seafood soup. This ever-popular sea-breeze dish contains cod, black fish and so on.

Cod, clams and mussels, all marinated in a light fish and tomato soup, topped with a licorice-flavored aperitif and a touch of fennel.

Some taverns even make their own special version, adding an Aldani sauce made with crispy red peppers, garlic and olive oil to the seafood. The seafood soup is also perfect for soaking toasted herb bread, and any

Neither an adventurer nor a rogue pirate would refuse such a perfect soup."

Listening to Brian's introduction, Hesiah was so surprised that she was speechless.

She found that the knowledge possessed by this battle mage was too rich.

Although he is a half-elf, it can be seen from his bright eyes and face that he is not even thirty years old.

Hesiah couldn't help but begin to doubt his true identity.

"What a pity."

Brian glanced at her and sighed with fake disappointment, "The surface world leading here is the Kingdom of Cormyr. This means that for a long time in the future, we will not be able to go to the distant Sword Coast to taste this kind of food."

tasty."

"That's not necessarily the case." Hesiah shook his head slightly and showed a mysterious smile to Brian.

"Actually, in our city of Susa, there is also a tavern where you can make this stewed seafood soup. If you have a chance, I will take you to try it."

"Susar City?" Brian raised his eyebrows in surprise, looked at the sword mage opposite, and showed an inexplicable smile. He put down the spoon in his hand and couldn't help but doubt:

"Honestly, I have stayed in the Susar Imperial City in Cormyr for a long time, but I never knew about it."

"That's because this tavern is built on a thousand-year-old oak tree on the marina of Souzal."

Seeing that Brian finally had something he didn't know and asked her for advice, Hesiah was very helpful. She raised a smile at the corner of her mouth and immediately introduced him enthusiastically: "It's called the 'Green Dragon Hotel', and it's a dog of faith.

A hotel opened by the Green Dragon, the god of nature, is also called the 'Last Rest Hotel'."

It is indeed its final destination, because this green dragon died in the Dragon Cult's Dragon Madness Rebellion, Brian thought to himself.

"You were not born in the city of Arabe, so how come you know so much about a hotel in a corner like Susar." He nodded thoughtfully and asked coldly.

"Ah?...That's because I learned my skills as a sword mage in Susar City."

Hesiah was stunned for a moment, then quickly organized his words and explained to him, "When I was eight years old, I was sent to the city of Susar to learn arcane arts and sword skills from the palace mage."

"I see."

Brian did not continue to ask. He chuckled, pointed to another delicacy on the table with his spoon, and said to her: "Try the gray dwarf's special food 'Lotus Cake in the Underdark with Special Fire Moss Sauce'."

"This dish is sometimes called the 'Mushroom Double Feast'. This fiery dwarf delicacy can even arouse the taste buds of tieflings who love spicy food."

He pointed to the food on the plate that resembled chips and petal-shaped slices, "These tubers are made from the bright white roots of the Underdark lotus and bluecap fungus, steamed and cut into thin, crispy slices, perfect for dipping..

....”

Before Brian could finish speaking, Hesiah couldn't help but twist a petal-shaped slice, dip it into the sauce on the plate, and taste it with relish.

However, what she couldn't believe was that this crispy and sweet slice had just been put into her mouth, ready to be chewed slowly.

She immediately felt a pungent taste like a blazing fire, pressing into her throat and stimulating the tip of her tongue. It was so spicy that all the bones in her body felt burning pain, and her throat seemed to be filled with flames and could spit out a ball of fire.

"Why is this so spicy?" Hesiah, who was blushing from the spicy food, looked at Brian complainingly. She threw away the food in her hand, stuck out her tongue, and kept gasping for air like a puppy.

Looking at Hesiah's red face and interesting appearance, Brian couldn't help but laugh out loud. He threw a spherical fungus to her and said to her unhurriedly:

"Actually, the highlight of this dish is the fire moss, which is made from ancient orange fire moss fungi and is ground into a delicious hot sauce. If you can't bear the spiciness, you must eat it with water polo mushrooms. You won't be able to

After I finished speaking, he started eating directly and still blamed me."

"..." Hesiah quickly took the water ball mushroom handed over by Brian and put it in her mouth.

She found that although the ball-shaped fungus was bland and tasteless, it was as chewy as a sponge, and the spicy taste in her mouth receded very quickly.

After the pleasant meal was over, Brian stood up from his seat with satisfaction and greeted Hesiah: "Let's go."

"Where are you going?" Hesiah stood up and followed his footsteps, asking knowingly.

"Where else can we go?"

Brian didn't look back, he quickened his pace and said as he walked, "Go to the Smoky Quartz Cave and beat up those stone men blocking the way."
Chapter completed!