Sword and Magic and Taxi

Zhao Mai dropped what he was holding, ran to the shack in a zigzag manner, and picked up the shield and dagger on the ground. Although the shed behind him was riddled with holes, it could provide him with some protection. Even if it is just spiritual protection, it is still very helpful to a traveler in another world.

Compared to his caution and alertness, the food reserve was more about excitement. If a dog senses danger, it will adopt a defensive posture, usually crouching with the front half of the body, standing upright with the back, and baring its teeth and growling. But the grain reserve is jumping non-stop, and the words coming out of his mouth are woof instead of thick. He must not be an enemy, right?

Zhao Mai chose to believe in the feelings of his companions, because whether it was vision, hearing or smell, he was inferior to a dog. After thinking for a while, Zhao Mai decided to stand up. Although the shield was still blocking his chest, the dagger was already hanging down. This is a relaxed posture, not a fighting posture anymore.

A dark figure walked out of the woods and stopped by the campfire. Although Gourou is blind in one eye, he still shows the calm demeanor of a dog king. It lowered its head and sniffed the dwarf, then raised its hind legs. Zhao Mai was about to stop it, but when he saw that the urine flowed along the slope of the ground and did not wet the dwarf's backpack, it didn't matter.

Judging from the timing of its appearance, Dogmeat must have been following the dwarf, and this must have been the instruction of the ranger Carl. The pee just now fully demonstrated Dogrou's position. If it were still fighting at this time, it would pounce on the dwarf from behind and bite the dwarf's throat.

Zhao Mai put the shield at his feet, walked over and wanted to touch Gorou's head, but was slapped away by a paw. From that slightly cloudy one eye, there was clearly a hint of arrogance. In fact, Zhao Mai didn't know how to describe this expression. It was probably a kind of Oh, I know what you want to do, but you think beautifully. He was surprised how his mind could go through so many thoughts in an instant, which was about Being unable to communicate normally because of the language barrier is driving you crazy, right?

Reserve Food was very proud. He jumped onto Dogrou's back and lay down firmly on it. However, its head is facing back towards its butt, its mouth is wagging left and right, and it is playing a chasing game with its tail. Well, it’s normal for dogs to be closer to each other. You can’t think that people are inferior to dogs just because of this, right?

More amazing things are yet to come. Dogrou raised his front legs, lowered his head, pulled hard from his armpit with his mouth, and actually pulled out a small cylinder. It bit it with its teeth and skillfully pulled out a roll of parchment. While Zhao Mai's eyes widened and his mouth opened wide, Gorou unfolded the parchment, and on it was a map drawn with charcoal.

For the first time, Zhao Mai knew the general terrain of the surroundings, the shapes of Healthy Forest and Ash Lake, and the locations of villages and towns. Dogrou tapped repeatedly on the map with his paw, which was exactly where Nebo Town was. It also draws an arc on the map, presumably to tell you how to get to the town. Zhao Mai looked at Gou Rou in confusion, and finally saw the emotion in Gou Rou's eyes. It was clearly a mixture of elation and a hint of stinking.

This is strange. I've only heard that magic pets of mages and warlocks can continuously improve their intelligence, but never heard that rangers' animal companions also have such abilities? The only way to improve the strength or agility of animal companions is through training. If you want to become smarter, you can only rely on the Enlightenment spell. However, this spell can only be used by high-level druids, and rangers cannot even touch it.

Fortunately, Gorou didn't make an expression similar to You are so rare and strange, otherwise Zhao Mai would even have the illusion that this old dog also has telepathy. Maybe this beautiful environment will improve the intelligence of animals, maybe.

Understood, I remember the map, thank Ranger Carl for me. Zhao Mai put away the map.

Gourou nodded seriously (or was he pretending?), accepting the blessing. Then it took steps and stood next to the dwarf's body. It used its paws to pull the necklace on the ground and put it under its body.

Hey, don't grab anything, okay? That's my trophy!

Gourou shook his head, sniffed the brilliant gem pendant with his nose, and then pressed it with his two front legs. Reserve jumped down from its back, stuck out its tongue stupidly, rolled on the dog's front legs and acted coquettishly, and at the same time secretly kicked the necklace with its hind legs, trying to pull the thing out.

What a good boy, he starts to consider the interests of his master. Zhao Mai walked slowly over and stretched his arm towards the necklace on the ground.

Dogrou discovered the pair's attempt to combine, so he used his nose to push away the food reserves, and then kept scratching the puppy's belly with his paws. Reserve Liang kept laughing on the ground, raising one of his hind legs to scratch in the air, as if begging for mercy. Gorou licked it lovingly, then picked up the necklace and looked at Zhao Mai with wide eyes.

If I was in trouble just now, would you come to help me? Zhao Mai asked.

Gou Rou whined as an answer. In fact, Zhao Mai is not sure whether a dog can understand his own words, especially when he uses Chinese. However, the ranger gave him a puppy, but he has not yet been able to repay the favor.

Okay, you can take that necklace as a reward for lurking and preparing to help. Zhao Mai waved his hand and said to Gourou: Do you want to play with the food reserves for a while longer, or go back now? It's already dark. I suggest you wait until the sun rises before leaving.”

This time Zhao Mai was sure that Gourou understood.

Two dogs, one big and one small, went to play, and the safety of the camp was even more guaranteed. Zhao Mai thought for a while and put on his clothes first, saving the young man from relying on his underwear to keep warm. Then go back and collect the gnome's belongings.

There aren't many things in the small backpack, and most of it is only suitable for small creatures. Zhao Mai feels a little awkward holding it. For example, small pieces of dry food, not much bigger than compressed biscuits, are enough for him for half a day, but they can keep the dwarf from being hungry for three days.

A small water bladder, a small mirror, and a small soap are not very useful. A small bottle of ink is a nice thing, and the paper is small but usable, but the quill is almost held between the fingertips and is difficult to control.

After careful calculation, a bag of coins was the biggest gain. Zhao Mai also got to see what the currency of this world looks like for the first time. The so-called gold coins are actually about the same size as a human thumbnail. They look thin, small and pitiful. The fineness of the gold is not good, and the weight is wrong. It should be mixed with other things, possibly copper.

The front of the gold coin says Valicia, and Zhao Mai knows that this is the name of this region. Valicia is not really a country. At best, it is just an alliance of city-states. Commercial considerations are far greater than political and military considerations. On the back was written the number one in various languages, and a warning in Common: Abadar is watching you.

Which god is Abadar? Zhao Mai only felt that he had seen this name before, but he couldn't remember exactly what it was. After all, it is not Wikipedia (Are you sure you don’t want to implant it in Baidu?), and you can understand everything by looking it up.

Silver coins are slightly larger, about the same size as a one-dollar coin. The copper plate is larger, but lighter in weight. After counting, there were about seventy gold, thirty silver and fifteen copper plates in the money bag. This was considered the first pot of gold he had earned in another world.

I can’t read magic scrolls, I can’t use wands, potions...who dares to drink such things randomly? Zhao Mai began to miss the industrial system on earth. At least the products made had instructions, warranty certificates, and production dates. But it doesn’t matter, anyway, when we get to Nebo Town, these will be sold—and of course the big bag of salt.