The waves splashed, bringing a salty smell as the lost traveler woke up from his slumber. He lifted his head, his hair matted with seawater, as if it had been coated with a dry mop. The sky was now completely dark, and faint shadows of fisherwomen could be seen on the shore, collecting the ocean's gifts before the last tide of the night.

Beside him was a pile of firewood, the orange glow mixing with the crackling sound of burning wood, creating a peaceful and warm atmosphere. There was a pot hanging over the fire, with boiling soup simmering inside, emitting a tantalizing aroma.

He was alone by the fire, everything felt natural and reasonable. Looking around again, there was still no movement, no one suddenly walking into his sight and smiling reassuringly, no companions voicing their worries, and no family rushing to hold him, afraid to speak for fear that his figure would disappear like foam in the blink of an eye.

Other than the sound of wood exploding, the world was silent and terrifying. It was like being trapped in the belly of a giant beast, and the overwhelming feeling of loneliness was crushing, as if it would grind the traveler into dust.

Struggling to sit up, he felt extremely weak in all his limbs. A strange feeling rushed up, making him want to lie down motionless on the ground and fall into a peaceful sleep.

"Ala?ala, sir, this won't do. What if you die? How am I going to survive? Will I become a poor widow? No, I don't want that. I haven't experienced many pleasures yet. I don't want to be buried with you, sir."

The girl sat with her legs crossed on top of a boiling iron pot, with steam rising from beside her. The aroma of the seafood stew scattered around her was blocked by her body, but the fragrance was still strong and alluring, causing saliva to uncontrollably flow from the mouths of the traveler.

Without considering whether it would burn her, nor asking the girl whether she wanted some meat in the pot, the traveler spoke to the base of the bonfire. However, judging from his current appearance, he seemed to have lost his composure.

"Shut up! Do you speak like that in your damn forest?!"

"Tsk~" The girl crossed her arms, her long blue hair flying up, and then she leaned back and fell from the iron pot onto the traveler's back.

His expression became fierce, then painful and angry, as if his face was a playground for all negative emotions. Oh, of course, there was also the reason?of being hit by a heavy object on his back.

"If you hadn't run away back then, grandpa and everyone wouldn't have..." Suddenly, the weight of the girl disappeared and the world quieted down again. The sound of the wind and the crackling of burning wood once again became the rulers of this place.

He approached the pot, picked up a ragged ceramic bowl and scooped up the food. The soup contained a mixture of seafood that had been cooked to a pulp, several live and wriggling small fish, and some green leaves.

He didn't have time to distinguish whether the food was prepared by someone with malicious intentions. He took a bite of the small fish's head and the rich soup mixed with the breath of life exploded in his oral cavity, wrapping his whole body in a warm and comfortable feeling.

It seemed that the tide was about to come in. Fisherwomen had already started returning with their fish baskets, and the scattered starlight along the coast formed an invisible road. At the end of the road was a village with only a few sporadic lights on. However, the tower outside the village emitted a long-lasting light.

Walking along this road, he arrived at a small village with a particularly strong fishy smell. The ground was covered with blood and fish remains. The soil under the lamplight was a disgusting black-red color. Several wild cats gathered in the corner, carrying fish bones and casually discussing this year's harvest.

Although most people were fishermen, there were still a few run-down shops in this small place, including a grocery store, a tavern, and an inn.

"De raguru mo igu sibeti mu, sutu iti lei ti?"

As soon as he walked into the tavern, he saw a middle-aged greasy man?wiping a wine bottle while shaking his head at him.

"Ye Weiju, Kakuwei Li Jipo camshaft, Disi Wei Tiya."

The tavern owner seemed unwelcoming, and using some local gibberish, he blocked the traveler at the door.

"Splurt~ Sir, didn't you hear it clearly? That bored man with a smell of dead fish and alcohol is cursing at you! Why don't we kill him? It would be a contribution to the world, and I'm sure the goddess will be comforted ~"

The traveler ignored the person hanging upside down from the tavern's beam, bowed slightly, and walked out of the tavern.

There was only one place left to go, the houses in the fishing village were very close together, and the sharp corner of the hotel could be seen from the tavern's door.

Turning the corner again, the previously chaotic and colorful little cats were gone, replaced by a large crab that was spitting bubbles outward. It looked as big as a millstone, one eye had gone blind, while the other eye stared at everything around it, its large claws gripping some furry meat chunks, stuffing them into its mouth non-stop.

"Ah! You evil thing, how can you eat those cute furry creatures..."

The girl screamed, pointing at the crab, her tone became extremely cold:

"Kill it."

Ignoring the girl's request, the traveler walked straight toward the hotel. The hotel's signboard was engraved with a few unknown words and was covered by black stains for the most part. The triangular small signboard at the door was also old and yellowed. Upon entering, he found that the wooden planks under his feet were also very dilapidated, as if he would fall into a bottomless hole the next moment. The degree of decay was no less than that of the tavern.

"Da Bu Luo Pu Jia Le Wei, Mo Pu Lu Ke!"

Another old man?appeared, but compared to the previous one, this old man?had much better spirits, and remnants of vitality could be seen on his black and red face.

Seeing the traveler silent, the old man?smiled and stood up from his chair, saying:

"Welcome to Krutoto, my friend! Do you want to stay at the hotel? Nowadays, few people come to the village, oh~ but there weren't many people before either. However, a few years ago, there was something happened at sea for a while, and my small hotel was crowded with people. Even the corridor was full of people sleeping, haha~ Oh, sorry, friend, I've gone off topic a bit. You can choose any room. You also know that not many people come to this place. You are my first guest this month."

"Just came from Old?Purk? My friend, judging from your dusty appearance, I guess Old?Purk?didn't let you into his dilapidated tavern. Oh, please don't complain about him. Old?Purk?always worries about the health of his customers. If..."

The traveler looked at the girl?with difficulty and reluctantly asked, "Do you... have any money?"

"Well, yes, of course. But why should I pay for you, sir? When I asked you to help me fight that evil monster, you just turned around and left. It's really sad that someone who considers the good and evil of the world is treated with indifference. But that's just how it is. The majority always remains silent..."

"Enough! When did you become so talkative? I remember..."He eventually chose to compromise and left the inn, leaving the store proprietor looking confused.

The old man turned to the young girl and said, "Ah, I didn't realize that the gentleman had such a beautiful companion! The last time I saw a girl as beautiful as you was a few years ago during a commotion. Several guests almost fought over a room, you know those guys at the 'inn' may look rough, but their strength is not to be underestimated. But then a beautiful woman arrived, and they all stopped arguing and started acting like gentlemen in front of her. Gentlemen! Ha~ They were just a bunch of old brutes pretending to be gentlemen, it was really awkward."

"Speaking of that commotion a few years ago, it's really something to remember. You don't know how big the waves were during those days, they were as high as five houses! The Leviathans that were usually difficult to see even when you went out to sea were everywhere, and the mermaids came to the reefs near the shore... oh, miss, you haven't seen mermaids, have you? They're beautiful and fierce creatures. There was a young man who couldn't resist the loneliness and approached them, and then he never felt lonely again..."

The young girl didn't have much interest in the old man's words, but she patiently listened and took the opportunity to interrupt, "Hey, uncle, why don't you listen to my story instead?"

"Oh, please do tell! Nowadays there are rarely any big events here, and the minstrels don't come here anymore. I haven't heard any fresh stories from the outside world for several?years."

The old man was excited, as nothing was more appealing than a fresh story.

“Once upon a time, there was a very clever tailor who was famous throughout the country for his eloquence and wit. One day, the king heard about him from his guards and summoned the clever tailor to the palace. The king was curious and said to him, "Oh, wise sir, your talent is being praised all over the country. Can you show me what you're capable of?"

"Of course, Your Majesty," replied the tailor. He had seen many grand occasions before and had been invited to parties by nobles. If any nobleman revealed that he had not invited the clever tailor to his party, he would be looked down upon by other nobles. The tailor believed that this time, he would be able to impress the king with his intelligence and wit.

The king laughed and said, "Clever sir, I will give you three riddles. If you answer them all correctly, I will betroth my only daughter to you."

The tailor was thrilled to hear this. His behavior had always been motivated by a hidden purpose, and he had never thought that the king would test his intelligence with the condition he had been dreaming of.

"Listen carefully, wise sir. Three questions trouble me:

What has one eye in the daytime and eight eyes at night?

What is buried in yellow dirt while alive, but after death, it rises up with wings and flies to the sky?

What do you regard as your friend but is capable of abandoning you at a height of ten thousand feet?"

The old man listened carefully to the girl's story until a traveler carrying two crab pincers walked in. He threw the crab pincers on the ground and stared at the girl, who was swaying her legs and seemed about to fall off the chair.

"Money," he said.

The girl tossed a gold coin at him, which hit him squarely on the nose.

The old man thought for a long time but couldn't figure out the answers to the riddles. His mind was completely drawn into the story.

"Oh, girl, you have to tell me what happened next. Did the tailor get his head chopped off because he couldn't answer the questions?" he asked.

The traveler glared at the girl's smiling face and said, "Of course not! The clever tailor answered all the riddles! As I said, he was an extremely clever person, and there was no question that could stump him."

The old man?laughed, he really enjoyed stories with a happy ending, and felt genuinely happy for the clever shoemaker. "So he must have married the princess and had a romantic wedding with petals and wine, right?"

The girl smiled but didn't say anything, jumping off the chair and stepping on the traveler's colorful shoes, spreading her arms to keep her balance.

The traveler pushed her away, turned his head, and said to the old man: "No, the shoemaker died. He was hanged at the gate of the royal city, and passers-by could see his increasingly dry and rotten body. People were mocking this pitiful 'fraudster'."

"But wait, sir, this beautiful girl told me that the shoemaker answered three riddles correctly," the old man?protested. He?was now thoroughly confused, and he saw that the girl didn't contradict her companion's words.

"The reason why the shoemaker was hanged is that the king never intended to marry the princess to him. He didn't even know the answers to the riddles he gave, and the only reason why he had the shoemaker hanged was that..."

?The girl laughed, revealing her white teeth, and poked the old uncle's round belly with her hand, answering before the traveler could finish his sentence: "Because he talked too much, just like you, dear uncle."