The journey of film and television world is endless

#144 - Chapter 30: The Duties of the Crow

After riding along the King's Road for about twenty minutes, I arrived at the ferry near Darry. There was a small stone bridge here, only allowing pedestrians and small carriages to pass. Large quantities of goods still had to rely on ferry boats to cross the river.

Standing on horseback at the ferry, you could see Darry City not far to the west. It is said that the Darry family were staunch loyalists, supporting the Targaryens during the War of the Usurper, and were willing to defy their liege lord, House Tully, rather than join Robert's rebellion. They lost three important members in the Battle of the Trident. After the war, the Targaryen dynasty fell, and the Darry family lost most of their wealth and almost all of their troops, and were also deprived of half of their fiefdom.

The warhorse stepped onto the stone bridge with small steps, and the passing farmers all subconsciously dodged, even looking at him with some fear. This is the main channel of the Trident River. It is said that there is also a large bridge northeast of the ferry, which was abandoned seventy years ago when the river changed its course.

After crossing the river, it wasn't long before I saw a conspicuous building by the side of the road at the intersection of the main roads. The entire building was surrounded by a somewhat damaged white stone wall. Inside the courtyard was a three-story building with a white stone chimney, a thatched cowshed on the north side, and a wooden bell tower.

At that time, the Trident River flowed past the back door of the inn, and half of the inn's building was located on the water. Therefore, you can still see the inn's south wing built on stilts, but the once rushing river is now only a trickle. This is the Riverlands Inn, also known as the Old Inn, and was once called the Double Crown Inn, the Belltower Inn, and the Roaring Dragon Inn. Because the inn is located at the intersection of the north-south King's Road and the east-west River Road and the Valley Road, merchants passing by are more accustomed to calling it the Crossroads Inn.

When Liu Yuan passed by, he saw two twelve or thirteen-year-old girls staring at him intently. Liu Yuan ignored them. He planned to continue forward for a while, then turn around in the vicinity and come back. The team leader said that the landlady of the inn was very good at cooking.

Liu Yuan circled the surrounding hills and returned to the main road. He identified the direction and had arrived on the Valley Road side. He also looked at the sky; it was already near dusk. He pulled the reins, turned his horse around, and planned to return to the inn.

Before he had gone far, he found a person lying on the road, covered in blood and in an unknown condition. Liu Yuan drove his horse closer, sniffed lightly, and looked up at the surroundings, revealing a sneer of disdain. They were trying to rob him with such amateur moves? The person was covered in cow blood. There were still many people hiding in the bushes, with their butts sticking out. Did they think he was blind?

Stopping not far from the person, Liu Yuan just sat on his horse, showing no intention of getting down. Seeming to think that stalling like this was not going to work, the person on the ground wriggled and pretended to struggle to raise his head, saying, "Help! Sir, save me!" Seeing that Liu Yuan ignored him, he crawled two steps towards him.

Liu Yuan reached out with his cavalry spear and flipped him over gently. Underneath the man was a short-handled broadsword. He shouted in panic, "Do it!" Then he picked up the broadsword and threw it at Liu Yuan.

Liu Yuan raised his spear and deflected the flying broadsword, then thrust out with the spear, hitting him directly in the throat. With a flick of his wrist, he threw the corpse into the bushes. The bandits who had been ambushing nearby all revealed themselves. Including the guy who had been pretending to be dead, there were thirteen people in total. Most of them were dressed in rags, mainly animal skins, but a few even had simple armor and helmets.

Their weapons were also varied, mainly axes and maces. Before he could examine them carefully, two more dark shadows came towards his face. The spear spun, smashing the incoming objects to pieces. They were actually two stones. The bandits were also using slings. Immediately afterward, a group of people surrounded him.

Liu Yuan lifted the spear with both hands and swept horizontally. The 40-centimeter-long sharp spearhead directly cut the bandit rushing from the right in two, from shoulder to chest, like a knife. With undiminished momentum, he broke another person's neck like a sugarcane. The three-meter-long spear shaft swept away another three people.

He kicked the horse's belly, turned the horse's head, and charged over. The spear split another person, and then stabbed into another bandit's chest and abdomen, picking him up before he could breathe his last. "Bang, bang!" Two more flying stones hit the unlucky guy. Liu Yuan drove his horse towards the guys throwing stones, using the constantly wailing guy on the spear as a shield. A guy who couldn't dodge was directly knocked down by the galloping horse and trampled to death without a sound.

The guy on the spear had already died. He was hit by three more flying stones and a javelin. At this time, Liu Yuan had approached those people. With a shake of his spear, he threw the corpse out, knocking those two people over directly. After thinking for a moment, he turned the spear around and used the weighted head to knock down on them. "Ugh..." He knocked them all unconscious, not caring whether they were bleeding from their heads or not.

The three bandits who had been swept away earlier had already gotten up. Liu Yuan hung the spear beside the saddle, pulled out his long whip, and rode back...…

As night fell, the lights of the Crossroads Inn were lit. Weber's caravan had arrived here and was almost settled. He was saying to an old guard, "Old Nick, it's getting dark. What's going on with Garon? Why hasn't he returned yet?"

Old Nick said nonchalantly, "Who knows? Maybe he got lost, maybe he's in some widow's bed, maybe he fell off his horse and broke his neck. Every year, many rookies like him die silently." The old guy had been a mercenary his whole life, been to many places, and seen everything. This area is flat and located on a major trade route, so it's impossible to get lost. The kid probably had an accident.

Some mercenaries also had ideas. The kid's equipment was worth a lot of money, and he should have a lot of money on him. Should they go out and look for him?

At this moment, the sound of a whip hitting flesh came from outside, accompanied by screams and the sound of horses' hooves. Then a group of people came in from the open door. The one riding on the warhorse was Garon, whom they had been talking about earlier.

When Liu Yuan saw that there were acquaintances in the yard, he greeted, "Yo, Team Leader Weber, and Old Nick. You're all here. Am I late for dinner?" At this time, everyone saw that Liu Yuan had two more mountain ponies behind him, with several bloody heads hanging on the horses' backs. Behind them were six people covered in blood, tied together with ropes.