Warriors will die if they charge.

Pig lung tavern, also known as stew restaurant.

But don't get me wrong, "stew" doesn't just mean that the pub's most famous dish is stew, but rather describes the cooking style and background of its owner, Hardy.

Hardy was a sewer cleaner in the city in his early years. These laborers, who worked in extremely harsh conditions, were accustomed to calling the excrement squeezed into the sewage and latrines "stew".

Linhe Town is a newly established rainforest settlement less than a hundred years old. The rushing Nicaro River connects to the vast Bernal Lake. The desert kingdom south of the lake is very good at trade, using large sailing ships to sail upstream and exchange for handsome men and beautiful women favored by the court nobles.

Hardy followed the gold rush to Riverside Town. Seeing the terrible food the dockworkers ate, he had a sudden inspiration: to use cheap smuggled spices to marinate the pig offal that nobody liked, especially the smelly pig lungs. In the end, he made a pot of fragrant and hot meat dish.

He always liked to proudly boast about how he had made it possible for everyone to have a hot bowl of stew, his teeth rotten from the sewers.

Trade activities declined fifty years ago due to internal strife in the southern desert, but people discovered that many treasures seemed to be hidden in the rainforest opposite the town, and a large number of adventurers flocked to the town, only to rush to their deaths in small boats.

This inn, which specializes in providing cheap meat, naturally became a gathering place for adventurers. After all, after an adventure, soaked to the bone by the rain, a bowl of rich and fragrant stew is no less delicious than gold.

Marcus entered the tavern, where most of the twenty long tables in the hall were crowded with people. The magic stone for solidifying light hung from the ceiling, and the dim light suggested that it might be time to replace it.

Some people were whispering among themselves, trying to gather intelligence, while many more were engrossed in eating and drinking. With spears, swords, and longbows at their feet, these adventurers, each with their own unique equipment and temperament, formed the main customer base of the Pig Lung Tavern.

The air was filled with a rich aroma of stewed meat, and a lingering, faint smell of sweat.

Marcus walked to the bar, where Nora, the proprietress, stood behind the counter. Her crow's feet crinkled into a smile as she spoke peacefully:

"Marcus, it's been a while. I heard you left the docks. Did you find some good work?"

"There's no good job. The work at the docks is too tiring and the pay is low. I can only afford a bowl of hot and fragrant stewed meat from you after working for three days. But I want to eat it every day."

Marcus chuckled. The original owner of this body had grown into a strong physique by eating the "stewed meat" from the pig lung tavern. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to become such a burly man just by eating black bread and oatmeal porridge.

Aunt Nora smiled and shouted to the kitchen, "Marcus is here! Bring him a pot of the finest stew."

A muffled female voice came from the kitchen; it was Nora's daughter, Rosa.

"Got it! That big guy only knows how to eat."

"Let's find a place to sit."

Marcus nodded and placed a silver coin on the table: "Auntie, there's a dwarf named Bardin who should live here, right?"

"Would you like to befriend a dwarf master? I can introduce you."

"No, he's my friend. He might have some drinks later, so I'll leave this silver coin as collateral."

Nora nodded, without asking any further questions, bent down and took two large oak glasses from the bar, filled them to the brim with rye, and pointed to a spot near the bar:

"Please have a seat. I'll have Little York tell the Dwarf Master that some friends have arrived."

Marcus, holding his wine glass, found a place to sit down.

Little York, who flitted between the long tables serving drinks to the adventurers, skipped and hopped up the stairs.

Before long, a brown-haired girl wearing an apron came out of the kitchen carrying a full pot of stewed meat. Rosa had a chubby and cute round face, a beautiful braid draped over her shoulders, and bright eyes that were very cute.

She placed the stew, which looked like an iron pot, on the table, along with two firm pieces of rye bread. With her hands on her hips, wiping the fine beads of sweat from her forehead, she patted Marcus's broad back: "Eat up, you'll have the energy to work."

The girl who had taken over the kitchen was busy preparing meals for the guests. Marcus looked at the container on the table, which was as big as a washbasin, and swallowed hard.

He said to Nora, who was standing at the bar, "Auntie, you've got it wrong. How could I eat so much?"

Nora wiped the wine glasses, smiling peacefully. The wrinkles brought by age had not erased the elegance in her bones; they were taut like a string on her cheeks.

"Eat more, you'll have the energy to work."

Marcus looked around and noticed that the other guests all had normal bowls of stew, but his was an enormous amount... Moreover, the meat floating on the rich broth was bright red and plump, while the goblin meat portion was very small.

While waiting for Bardin, he listened intently to what the adventurers were saying.

"Don't even mention it. Today I found a bunch of goblin corpses outside town. They were all gnawed to pieces by wild beasts. There was also a bear goblin, which was definitely a bear goblin. Its head was smashed to pieces, and I couldn't even get an ear."

The regretful voice of the man behind him made Marcus take a sip of beer. The sour and slightly spicy taste was quite good, though it was a bit too watery. He then continued to eavesdrop.

"I heard someone found a yellow scale in the Linhe Forest. A monk speculated it was left behind by a fish shedding its skin, pure gold, and about the width of a palm." The lean man, with his legs on a stool, rolled his eyes and lowered his voice, saying:

"If we find that big fish, we'll never have to worry about money again for the rest of our lives."

"A fish that grows gold?" The tall, dark-skinned orc, a spoon wedged between his short fangs, leaned forward slightly, his round eyes filled with a longing for gold.

"Then its poop must be gold. I was a gold panner back in my hometown. If you put a bag of sand in the river and filter it through a sieve, you're sure to find gold."

Beside the orc, a woman wearing tattered leather armor took a bite of stewed meat, chewed it a few times, her brow scar stood up, and her thin lips parted to spit out a piece of meat as thick as a finger.

She slammed her hand on the table, her shapely chest heaving violently, and shouted at the bar:

"Damn it, more goblin meat, Nora!"

Nora kept smiling. "Two copper coins and you think you can have something good? Keep dreaming. Things haven't been good these days. Where are you going to find so much offal? Do you really think the only valuable thing about a goblin is its left ear?"

The lean man, quick as a flash, pinched the goblin meat the woman had spat out onto the table between two fingers, eagerly stuffed it into his mouth, and exclaimed with delight, "So delicious!"

Marcus put down his glass, his expression strange. He felt that these adventurers were completely different from the elite and high-end people he had imagined. These people were more like laborers who worked for money.

The woman stood up and noticed the large pot of stew hidden from view by Marcus's broad back at the table in front of her. After examining it closely, she became furious: "Why isn't there a single piece of goblin meat in his pot! Is this how you treat your regular customers?!"

"Exactly! A bowl of pork offal has at least half goblin meat, and that costs two copper coins!"

"It's sour and smelly, how are we supposed to eat it?"

The chorus of complaints was met with Nora's calm response:

"If you're unhappy, go to the guild for a meal. Eight copper coins will get you a full meal. I only charge three copper coins for fresh meat and dark bread, plus a cup of watered-down ale."