Also from River Valley Town, an experienced adventurer.
It is said that in the early days, he was also a member of the "Green Blood" team and was teammates with Adeline for a while.
However, as his strength gradually improved, except on Hunting Days, he no longer bothered with those trivial goblins.
According to custom, he left the team to go solo.
Over the years, he made a name for himself among the low-level adventurers in River Valley Town and earned the nickname "Iron Hand."
The origin of the nickname, of course, comes from the silver metallic arm guard on his right hand.
Interestingly, this arm guard has been damaged many times in battle, and as George’s stature increased after leaving the team, he was fully capable of purchasing higher-level defensive equipment.
But once the "Iron Hand" nickname spread, every time he upgraded his gear, he requested the blacksmith to make the arm guard in its original style, even if it meant paying an extra ten or so Gold Coins for processing.
In recent years, he even adjusted the arm guard’s overall shine and color in a more striking direction, so that strangers would notice the eye-catching silver on his arm at a glance.
Under George’s deliberate promotion, his "Iron Hand" moniker became increasingly renowned, attracting many capable adventurers to join his team.
Combined with his decent skill and fair management style as a leader,
over the years, his team’s size and overall strength far surpassed the "Green Blood" team.
He is arguably the most successful among Adeline’s former teammates.
And once he became successful, George did not repay kindness with harm by humiliating or belittling his old captain.
Rather, he maintained a good relationship with Adeline, sometimes even recommending promising newcomers to her as reinforcements.
Of course, once these newcomers developed around Adeline, they often chose to leave the team and join the "Iron Hand" team.
So, to some extent, George had his own calculations.
But Adeline didn’t mind this; after all, they would inevitably leave the team eventually, and she felt more at ease with people she knew.
Adeline gained teammates willing to hunt goblins with her, and George acquired a bunch of seasoned and experienced adventurers.
It could be described as a win-win situation.
Xia Nan met "Iron Hand" George once while waiting for a mission at the Association.
He remembered the other jokingly invited him at the time, but he didn’t agree.
Apart from that, his impression of George was pieced together from snippets of others’ words.
"Silver metallic arm guard," "Adeline’s former teammate," "Good strength, many reliable teammates"...
Once, Xia Nan had no desire to learn more about the other and didn’t plan to have any dealings with George.
Now, he no longer had those opportunities.
Because George, at this moment, was already completely dead.
Carefully managed, the metal arm guard symbolizing his identity was mercilessly smashed by a blunt object, turned into a piece of useless, pitted, and twisted scrap metal.
The costly maintained silver surface was covered in dirty mud and bright red bloodstains, discarded like scrap iron, embedded in the soil.
Sticky, warm blood beads slowly dripped, splashing minutely on the grass, turned brown-red from staining.
With legs off the ground, his toes naturally drooping.
In the twilight, the suspended shadow gently swayed with the wind, faint creaks of tight fibers echoed in the air.
George, or rather, his body.
Was crudely hung by the neck with a blood-soaked hemp rope, suspended from the branches of a towering oak.
The right arm’s lower half was empty, with tendons and shredded flesh forming bloodied tassels dangling from the wound covered with ghastly bite marks; the left arm twisted at an exaggerated angle, the skin and flesh around the fingers and forearm peeled away, exposing pallid bone mixed with blood-red, revealing the inhuman torture he suffered in life.
The gentle breeze, filled with a strong iron scent, passed by, causing the branches and leaves to sway, letting the dusky twilight, concealed by the treetop before, silently spill over his corpse.
Revealing the two empty, horrifying holes on George’s face.
The leather armor and undergarments had been stripped off, leaving his upper body bare, covered only with a layer of dried blood scabs.