The familiar name instinctively conjured images in Xia Nan’s mind.
——Two frail boys, hiding behind their mother, wide-eyed, staring dumbfoundedly at him.
It was back when he had just crossed over, just completed his first mission, on the way back.
Seeing the two looking malnourished and skeletal, he had given them a few extra pieces of jerky.
However, the children’s mother seemed not to like them having too much contact with him, an adventurer, and her submissive attitude hinted at some distance, so he didn’t linger.
As time went on and various matters piled up before him, he gradually left this small incident on his adventure behind him.
Only now, reminded by Adeline, did he recall it.
"I remember the two lived outside the town with their mother, how come..."
"They’re dead," Adeline replied.
The image appeared in his mind of a simple woman in her thirties, with blonde hair and blue eyes, a plain braided hairstyle, and a patched apron, shielding her two children behind her.
"Was it because of the demons near the town?"
He remembered they lived in the suburbs, and if they encountered demons venturing out of the forest in search of food due to hunger, it could indeed have been a disaster.
To this, Adeline merely shook her head.
Her amber eyes shifted slightly, looking to the side, at the adventurers surrounding the tavern table, where voices filled the air, wildly venting desires and emotions.
"You should know him."
"Bernie, the famous drunkard in town."
Xia Nan suddenly realized.
"Didn’t he provoke the wrong person that time and got his limbs broken by a professional and thrown out?"
He remembered the guy had once tried to mess with him too, but thanks to his teammates’ intervention, things didn’t escalate.
"His teammate was nice, bought him a healing potion with the gold coins saved up from missions."
Adeline raised her wine glass, took a gentle sip, her face revealing no expression.
"His life was saved, but he was left disabled."
"He relies on the charity of a former teammate, staying in the tavern every day."
"That night, as usual, Bernie got drunk and happened to run into the mother of those two kids on her way back from her night job, and then... no need to elaborate."
Xia Nan frowned, the beheading longsword behind him reflecting a metallic gray light in the tavern’s lanterns.
Just as he was about to ask, he heard Adeline speak again.
"Quite a coincidence."
"On the day Kalanfor exploded, Bernie was gambling at the ’Full Bag of Gold’."
"Boom!" Her expression remained unchanged, then suddenly she drew her hands together before her, making an explosion gesture, her face showing a strange expression.
"Not even a bone was left, his body melted away."
Learning that Bernie was dead, Xia Nan’s previously repressed heart finally felt some relief, but he quickly sensed the inconsistencies in the story.
"That Bernie, killing someone, could still go to other town taverns for leisure?"
"He paid some gold, spent a few days in jail, and was released."
"River Valley Town, it’s an adventurer’s River Valley Town." A hint of mocking, unspeakable smile appeared on Adeline’s face, "That’s what he said on the night he was released from jail, while drinking."
Rising slowly, the captain, still carrying the scent of blood, didn’t linger.
"I sincerely invite you to join the team."
"Think it over, I’ll be at the ’White Sparrow’ these next two days."
Then turning away, she returned to the table with her two teammates.
As Xia Nan pondered, footsteps sounded beside him once again.
"Your number three set meal!"
With two waiters busy cleaning and unable to spare hands, the tavern owner Chapton personally approached with the tray.
As if remembering something, Xia Nan pulled him aside, nodding towards Adeline’s direction ahead, and quietly asked:
"How about that female adventurer near the door, is she reliable?"
Following his gaze, Chapton looked over.
He couldn’t help but smile.
"Quite a coincidence, I was just about to tell you."
"’Green Blood’ Adeline’s team just happens to need someone, I wanted to see if you had any thoughts."
Chapton’s mention of Adeline included a nickname Xia Nan hadn’t heard before, leaving him puzzled.
"Oh, I almost forgot, you haven’t been in town long, have you?"
"It’s normal not to know some things."
"This Adeline is called ’Green Blood’ because..."